Team Fox
by Bill Alain
Summary: What would happen if Kyuubi wasn't a demon, and Naruto was a genius? What if Naruto knew more about the world then most of the Kages? This story will tell you. Good Kyu, Smart Naruto, NaruXHina, takes place after Chuunin Prelims.
1. Chapter 1

Ok, so here is my first fanfic. Truthfully I see this as practice for my actual story, so please review and tell me about spelling/grammar and anything else that you want to bring to my attention. Also, since this is practice for me, I will not waste the effort to translate all of my original jutsus (please forgive me). However, I will leave as many of other jutsus in their original Japanese. This story takes places after the Chuunin exam prelims, with almost no changes up to that point, either I or the story (flashbacks) will tell you of any and all changes in the story line up to that point. So now that that is out of the way…

I do NOT own Naruto, even in my dreams…

* * *

Naruto was _furious. _Actually the word "furious" doesn't even come close to describe the level of anger the orange-clad boy was radiating. In fact this specific level of anger probably deserved a word of its own. What on God's good earth could make this boy so mad? Simple, a certain fate-obsessed Hyuuga with a superiority complex.

-Flashback-

Naruto was watching the Hyuugas in their match at the prelims. Neji charged an almost unconscious Hinata. He was going to end this fight. He was going to avenge his father. He was going to remove this pathetically weak girl from the Hyuuga clan and get away with it. It was the Chuunin Exams, after all.

Suddenly his open palm was deflected by a Jyuuken strike. Everyone froze as they looked at the person that had deflected Neji's attack. It was Naruto. It took a whole ten seconds for this to register in anyone's brain. _"Naruto…the dead last…used…the…Jyuuken!?"_ Everyone, excluding Shino, looked shocked. And everyone, including Shino, was thinking _"How on earth does Naruto know the Jyuuken? How can he even use it without the Byakugan?" _

Naruto simply stared into Neji's pupiless eyes. And Neji found himself wavering under his gaze. He averted his eyes over to Hinata, who was barely standing, and staring in absolute shock at her crush. Naruto then spoke in a voice that demanded respect. "He said, the match was called, Neji. Back down. _Now."_ Neji surprised himself and obeyed the orange clad boy.

Naruto then turned around to Hinata, he walked over and hugged her. On contact Hinata blushed _"HE'S HUGGING ME!"_

Before anyone could think _"What is going on?"_ both of them were enveloped in a red chakra. "Fox's Healing Jutsu." Naruto said. Hinata started smoking for a brief second, and then it stopped. Naruto turned around and looked directly at the offender. "Neji Hyuuga. I find you guilty for attempted murder. For this, I swear to you on my nindo, that I will cripple you, _for life_." And before anyone could say anything else, Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Finally someone spoke up. "What just happened?"

-End Flashback-

Naruto turned the corner, _"That's it! That's the last straw! He thinks he so high and mighty because he's a genius…Well I'm going to show him what a real genius looks like." _Naruto walked into his apartment and opened his closet, he reached behind the ugly, eyesores the shopkeeper called a jumpsuit, and pulled out a box. _"It's time they know who the real Naruto is…" _

* * *

Later that night, at the Hyuuga compound, Hiashi Hyuuga was sitting in his personal library, enjoying a good book and a cup of green tea. However, for some reason, his book was just not as interesting as the events his daughter had told him about. It seemed slightly unreal, but then again, the Namikazes always seemed to surprise him. _"So Minato's son can use the Jyuuken, I'll have to ask him how he compensates for the Byakugan…"_ Something behind him made a noise, he found nothing, and his Byakugan told him there was no genjutsu, but he knew there was something in front of him.

"_Good evening, Lord Hiashi."_ Said a voice that came from nowhere.

"I was just thinking on how the Namikazes never cease to amaze me." Hiashi said with a smile a Naruto rippled into view, wearing a coat that looked just like the Fourth's with the exception of the Kanji, which now read 'Fox'.

"You do realize you have just told me my heritage, something that was not supposed to happen when I became a Chuunin."

"That didn't stop you from finding your father's box."

"Touche…"

"So, why have you decided to appear before me?"

"I need some information."

"About?"

"The Hyuuga clan, what else?"

"I see, may I ask if it has anything to do with threatening to cripple my nephew?"

"Yes it does."

Hiashi nodded, he knew it was impossible to talk the boy out of it. He was the son of the Fourth, the most stubborn of the Hokages "I see, may I inquire as to why you want to do that to my nephew."

"He hurt someone precious to me. That is unacceptable."

"You do know that despite the fact that he tried to kill her she really loves her cousin."

"If I had a family I might understand that."

"Naruto, if you're referring to the fact that I didn't adopt you, Sandaime was keeping you safe by keeping your identity a secret, and if I had adopted you, too much suspicion would have been aroused."

"All the same, since you didn't adopt me, I grew up with the only comfort being the thing responsible for all of my torment and pain."

"_**Calm down, kit. It wasn't his fault."**_ Kyuubi said to the ranting boy.

"Fine, fine, forget I brought that up." Naruto said, "But, all the same I need some information."

"Very, well what do you need it on?"

"Neji, why he has such a annoying, fate-obsessed, Oh-so-much-holier-than-thou attitude."

"Ah, now that's a story…" Hiashi went on to explain about Neji's father and the history the two brothers had. Naruto remained impassive. When he finished the story Hiashi asked Naruto "Is there anything else you need?"

"Yes, I'm going to need some of your Jyuuken scrolls."

"Alright."

"Alright? No objections about the Jyuuken being a secret family taijutsu?"

"Well, as far as I'm concern, it will only be a matter of time before you become family, after all, my daughter will definitely accept the engagement to you, and you already know the Jyuuken, or at least its basics."

"So you heard about that?"

"Yes, and I must say I'm impressed, may I ask how you learned the style."

"When you have had a being as old as time locked into your stomach you pick up a few things."

"So where did _he_ learn it?"

"He didn't tell me, something about keeping a mysterious personality."

"Well you have access to my library, feel free to come and go as you please, wearing that of course." Hiashi said, pointing to the coat Naruto was wearing.

"Of course, thank you Lord Hiashi." Naruto said as he bowed.

"You know, if you are dropping the mask, your fiancé should be the first one to know."

"I'll take care of it, don't you worry about a thing, except the health of your nephew."

Hiashi sighed as Naruto rippled into invisibility. His father's stubbornness was definitely one of his most prominent characteristics; he hoped his grandchildren wouldn't take after his father in that regard.

* * *

Hinata was walking around the compound in a gorgeous kimono wondering about her crush. _"How does Naruto know the Jyuuken? How did he heal me so fast?"_ She blushed, thinking on the contact between them. _"Well, all good things must come to an end."_ She sighed. She walked into her room, looking for a change of clothes; she was going to go out for her daily "Naruto-reconnaissance" rounds.

She took out her jacket, and was about to put it on her desk, when she saw an envelope sitting there. _"What is this?"_ She opened it up and read it…

_To Hinata, the most beautiful girl in the world. _

_This is your favorite, orange-clad Genin. _

She nearly fainted reading that.

_Now don't faint on me, I can't risk anyone seeing this letter, by the way, please burn this after reading it, sorry you can't keep it as proof that I love you, but, this is very important. _

The previous warning was the only thing that kept her on her two feet; she could not let herself fail him.

_Now there are some very important things I need to tell you. The first is, I am a genius, you probably guessed this when I used that Jyuuken strike, if not then I must be one amazing actor. The second is a SS-class secret. I am the son of Minato Namikaze, and Kushina Uzumaki. _

_The third and fourth secrets are related. Now promise me and yourself that you will not make any judgements until you have read both secrets. The third is that Kyuubi, the nine tailed fox is neither a demon nor is he responsible for the attack on Konoha, and he was forced to do so by Manda Uchiha. The fourth secret is another SS-class secret, but it answers the all important question on how do I know any of this. The truth is, Kyuubi was sealed into me. _

Hinata dropped the letter. Naruto, her crush was the vessel of a demon? _"No, Kyuubi is no demon, Naruto said so. Naruto wouldn't lie." _She picked up the letter and continued reading.

_I realize that this information may have compromised your view of me, but I couldn't live with myself if I didn't tell you. So it was rather necessary that I tell you. If you want to talk to me go to the training grounds you normally find me, yes I know you follow me. Now remember to burn this, I'm truly sorry you cannot keep it, I will wait for you at the training grounds, hope to see you there. _

_Love _

_Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze _

Hinata changed faster than she thought was possible, and ran out of the compound. She ran to the forest, and headed to Naruto's special training ground. She saw him sitting on one of the high branches, and landed next to him. "H-h-h-hello, N-Naruto-kun."

"Hey Hinata-chan, I'm over that way." Naruto said pointing to a small clearing.

Hinata looked very confused, then suddenly it dawned on her that this was a shadow clone, she nodded and jumped away. This time she landed in the clearing. She looked over to Naruto who was standing next to a man with red hair and what looked like nine tails behind him. The man was also chained to Naruto. She looked at him, curious, who was he and what was he doing chained to Naruto. "H-h-hello N-Naruto-kun, m-m-may I ask who he is?"

"Hey Hinata-chan, yes you may ask, this is Kyuubi."

* * *

There you go, Chapter 1! Hope you enjoyed it!


	2. Chapter 2

I have never owned Naruto, and I never will…

* * *

Hinata's jaw dropped, this handsome, redhead was the Kyuubi? The nine tail fox? The buji that had attacked Konoha? "Y-Y-Your K-K-K-Kyuubi?"

Naruto and Kyuubi just looked at her and in unison said "Believe it."

"B-b-b-but how?"

"**I think I should explain this one, Kit." **

"Perfect gives me more time to analyze this jutsu." Naruto said holding a scroll in front of him.

"**Hyuuga-sama, I am Kyuubi, and as Naruto's letter explained, I'm no demon. In fact none of the biju are." **Hinata looked at Kyuubi curiously, **"You see, the biju are simply creatures granted spiritual power by the Great One, the only true God. Why he did this, I have no idea. Just that he did and now I'm stuck in him." **

"You make that sound like that's a bad thing." Naruto said.

"**The only good thing that came from getting sealed into you instead of someone else is the development of your 'Servant's Freedom' Jutsu."** Kyuubi said.

"Like it's my fault? If you want to blame anyone you should blame Mandra." Naruto said.

"**Fair enough." **

"W-w-what's the S-s-s-servant's F-f-f-f-freedom J-j-j-jutsu?" Hinata asked.

"I'll take this one, Kyu." Naruto said, putting the scroll he was reading down. "It's a jutsu I developed that allows the user to let a sealed object out of whatever it is sealed into, However, the sealed object is still connected to the other object through a chain. If you haven't guessed, that's why Kyuubi is standing here. This has allowed me to stop Kyu's complaining about not getting any fresh air."

"**Do you have any more questions?"** Kyuubi asked the Hyuuga.

"H-h-h-how did you l-l-l-learn the J-j-j-j-jyuuken?" Hinata asked.

"How does anybody learn any of the Taijutsu?" Naruto asked back, "The Jyuuken is just another Taijutsu style, the only thing that makes it so exclusive to the Hyuuga is the Byakugan. Not because it is impossible to use the Jyuuken without the Byakugan, but because the Byakugan simply makes it more effective. To make up for it I simply study the human anatomy, rather extensively I might add."

"Wow." Hinata said, clearly impressed.

"**Yup, he is one amazing kid." **Kyuubi said.

"Have any more questions, Hina-chan?"

Hinata blushed deeply. "J-j-j-just one, d-d-d-do you r-really have to c-c-cripple Neji-niisan?"

Naruto sighed, "I knew it was going to come to this, I wish I could take it back, Hinata-chan, I really wish I could, but a promise is a promise, I will try to find some way around it, but I can't really promise that…I know that sounds lame but that's the truth. I hope that you'll forgive me. Even though I'm asking a lot, due to him." He said pointing to Kyuubi.

"N-n-n-Naruto-kun, I could n-n-n-never be angry at you, or K-k-k-Kyuubi-sama you are both very k-k-kind people, b-b-b-but p-please d-don't be t-t-too hard on him."

"I'll do my best, Hina-Chan. Alright Kyu, after we finish studying these we're going to work on some ninjutsus, and then next on the list is kenjutsu."

"**You got it Kit, I hope to see you soon, Hyuuga-sama." **

"G-g-good-bye N-n-n-Naruto-kun, I'll see y-you at the f-finals."

"Bye, Hina-chan, I love you."

She fainted.

* * *

Naruto spent the next two weeks training, and training hard. He and Kyuubi perfected their chain-and-sword kenjutsu, which was a mixture between the demon brothers chain attacks, combined with many rather impressive kenjutsu. He also spent some time working on the Kaiten, and the other 

Hakkes. He even worked on combining the Jyuuken and the Goken together, and found that after a lot of time, it could work. Dubbing the new style Kyuubiken (nine-tails fist) he continued to work and fix small flaws which he began to notice were dropping in numbers.

Eventually he snuck to team Gai's training ground and found a way to talk to Gai. He asked Gai to look over the style for him. Gai, enthusiastically agreed. All the while he was screaming about bright flames of youth, compelling the youthful Naruto to create a new style. After showing Minato Gai the style, Gai simply hung his mouth opened and then after ten whole seconds said, "If my prized student were to fight against this new style, he would not be able to come back for my teaching."

Naruto thanked Gai for his opinion on his style but continued to work on it. He also took out his father's box which held a scroll for his two famous jutsus, the Rasengan and the Hiraishin no Jutsu. After a lot of studying, Naruto realized he may be able to the Rasengan, but the Hiraishin was deffinately out of the question.

The last week he was going to dedicate himself to seals. The entire time, while working on them Kyuubi seemed distracted. Naruto let it pass by for the first two days, but on the third day his patience broke. "KYU! PAY ATENTTION!"

"**AHHG!"** Kyuubi screamed before he landed face down in the dirt. Naruto went over to the buji and helped him up. **"I'm sorry, Kit. I was just thinking about that Gaara kid." **

"You mean the sand Jinchuriki?" Naruto asked.

"**Is there another Gaara in a four mile radius?" **

"Funny. So what about him?"

"**Well Shukaku may not have been sane, exactly, but he wasn't a psychopathic killer." **

"Really? Well now that you mention it, he did look like he hadn't had much sleep for a long time."

"**Hey, I have an idea." **

"What?"

"**You know how we were going to work on seals this week?" **

"Yeah…Wait…You don't mean…NO! No, I won't do it! You'll never get me to do it! No!"

* * *

Later that night, Naruto was hiding. This time however, he was not hiding from ANBU for pulling a stupid prank. He was hiding from any prying eyes, this was a self-assigned mission of the upmost importance. "I can't believe you talked me into this…" Naruto said seemingly to himself.

"_**Trust me, Kit. This boy will thank you for the rest of your life for this."**_

Naruto sighed; this was going to be a big job.

Gaara sat on the musty old recliner. He hated his life. In truth he could probably sum it up in three words: Pain, Death, and Sleepless nights. _"That's four words…" _he corrected himself silently. Suddenly there was a shadow in the window. On instinct, the cork on his gourd popped open, and sand spilled down to his feet, only making a tiny rattle once it hit the floor. He waited, there didn't seem to be anyone here. Then he heard it, almost as light as the wind, a single word, floating to his ears.

"_Gaara…"_ He strained his ears, maybe he was just hearing things, or did the wind actually call him by name? _"Gaara…" _There it was again. The wind was talking to him, maybe all of those nights he spent staring at the ceiling were getting to him. _"Gaara, listen to me. There is a boy, just like you…Meet him in the forest tomorrow, and you will find something you have been longing for…"_

"What will I find?" Gaara asked, meanwhile thinking _"Now I'm talking to the wind, I really must be crazy." _Then the wind said a word he thought he would never hear.

"_You'll find a friend." _

* * *

The next morning Gaara almost dragged his siblings out the door, much to their annoyance. "But, Gaara! I haven't had breakfast yet!" The puppeteer complained.

"Shut up." Gaara mumbled and Kankuro wisely shut his trap. Gaara led both of siblings to the forest and told them to look for a boy. While both Temari and Kankuro were curious, they did not ask questions and began to search for a boy. Who was he? Didn't ask. Why was he here? Didn't ask. What were they doing looking for him? Didn't ask. And why this couldn't wait until they had eaten? The definitely did not ask.

At ten AM everyone was hungry, but fear of Gaara's wrath kept everyone going. Finally they heard a tune being whistled, and everyone jumped to see who it was. They found Naruto sitting on a rock, whistling to himself.

Gaara walked up to the boy. "Are you the one who is like me?"

Naruto, smiled and said, "Yes Gaara, and I want to help you."

* * *

Temari and Kankuro were walking back towards town. Naruto had told them to go eat and then wait back at the apartment. Both of them were very confused. Who was this Naruto? And why was Gaara ready to trust him at a moment's notice? None of it seemed right, but Gaara was very firm with backing up the boy's order, so they had no choice but to comply. That did not stop them, however from making a mental oath. _"If anything happens to our brother, we will kill you Naruto." _

* * *

Gaara sat in the middle of a very well organized blood seal. His eyes were filled with hope, this boy Naruto claimed he could fix his seal. Naruto explained that he held Kyuubi, and Kyuubi knew Shukaku, and only a deformed seal could make the one-tail a mass murderer. So he carefully examined the seal and after thirty minutes of studying did Naruto say he could fix it.

Naruto explained that the seal's deformities caused several problems, the first of which was it forced Shukaku to take over as soon as Gaara fell asleep. Gaara of course knew this, what he didn't know was Shukaku had no say in the matter, making the insane biju angrier, increasing the need to kill. Also the seal was messing with Shukaku's head, making him a killer. The final thing the seal did was it gave Gaara the ultimate defense at all times, which after further studying was only supposed to happen when Gaara wished to live. Gaara growled, but then Naruto explained that when the process was complete, Gaara would have more control over sand then he could ever dream of having.

And so Naruto immediately set to work, setting out the blood seal, and preparing Gaara for the repairing. Naruto then took out an ink brush, and carefully began to work on Gaara's seal. Suddenly Gaara heard _that_ voice _**"Kill him…He is no friend, he will kill you like the rest of them."**_ But then he heard the same voice again, but it said something completely different _**"Don't listen to me! I don't know what I'm talking about!"**_

"_Well that's new…" _Gaara thought.

"_**No, Shut up. Listen to me; you have no friends…Shut up yourself! Naruto is a friend!...No, He will kill us, you must destroy him!...If he's going to kill us then I'm Napoleon!..." **_

Gaara simply sat and listened to the argument Shukaku was having with himself. It was very interesting having the same person change views in a matter of seconds. But one thing he noticed was whenever Shukaku said to kill, he didn't feel like he needed to, like it was more of a suggestion. Then there was silence. "And there you go." Naruto said. Gaara blinked.

"You're finished?"

"Yes, the real Shukaku should be able to talk to you, and you should be able to get a good night's sleep."

"Naruto, thank you. Is there any way I can repay you?"

"Don't worry about it, what are friends for?"

"_Friends…He thinks of me as his friend."_ Gaara then did something he had not done for a very, very long time, he smiled. "Naruto, there is something you should know." Naruto looked at his new friend, "Suna and Oto are going to invade Konoha, I was origionally supposed to lead the attack, but in order to repay you, I will fight for you and your village."

Naruto simply smiled and said, "Thank you, and I will see you there."

* * *

Gaara came back to the apartment smiling. When Kankuro saw him he nearly jumped out the window. Temari didn't fare much better. As Gaara ate dinner Temari and Kankuro simply sat on the other side of the table and gawked. _"What on earth did Naruto do?" _They both thought.

Then the next words out of Gaara's mouth really scared them. "Well, I'm going to bed, have a good night's sleep." Both Temari and Kankuro forced theselves to stay awake, both fearing that an evil sand monster would come into their rooms and kill them. When they got up they were surprised to see a very peaceful redhead sleeping on the couch. _"What _did _Naruto do?" _

* * *

Well, there's chap 2, next chapter, Neji gets his butt whooped.


	3. Chapter 3

Ok, new Chapter! Let me begin by saying wow, People really like this one! Ok, let me answer a couple of questions, 1, this is strictly NaruHina, no Harem, 2, I'm not going to drop this, not for a long time anyway, 3 It was brought to my attention that Kyuubiken means Nine-tails fist, and all I have to say is, that's why I'm not translating any of my original jutsus, because I suck at it, so, sorry, but you've got to admit, "Nine-tails fist" has a good ring to it… Finally, I would like to thank Chewie for the spelling corrections. So let's begin Chap. 3

Again, I don't own Naruto…

* * *

Anxiety was hanging over the Chuunin Exam Finals like a fog hangs over a bay. Everyone was anxious to see Naruto, almost nobody had seen him during the last month, but after the Jyuuken strike incident, everyone was eagerly waiting for his appearance. Hinata sat next to her father and her sister, eagerly awaiting the appearance of her crush. Then she heard a voice, it sounded very small and light, like the wind. _"Hinata, I'm glad you could make it. Wait till you see the entrance I'm going to make."_ It had sounded like it was whispered into her ear, but there was no one there, but she waited.

The Protector was waiting for Naruto to show up, and Neji was smirking to himself, _"So the loser didn't even show up, huh? All the better."_ Once he thought the word 'loser' the memory of Naruto deflecting his attack with a jyuuken strike came back to him. Even though he would never admit it, even to himself, he was frightened. Slowly a mist started rolling in, almost unnoticeable until it had covered half the arena, then it thickened till the point where no one could see. Neji activated his Byakugan, but saw nothing.

Suddenly from the center of the mist, a booming voice called out **"Neji Hyuuga!"** Shivers went down his spine **"On the charge of attempted murder you have been found guilty! Your punishment shall be…" **

"Me…" The mist faded away and in the center stood a certain blond ninja. However, he was completely different. He wore a Yondaime style coat, with the kanji for 'fox' on the back. At his side hung a katana, sheathed in an onyx black scabbard, with two red foxes etched in its sides. He wore a white shirt with a red spiral pattern on its front, and black pants, he also wore black ninja sandals. "Neji Hyuuga, today I fight you, not as Naruto Uzumaki, but as Naruto Namikaze, son of Minato Namikaze, better known as Yondaime Hokage, Konoha's Yellow Flash."

Neji was doing all he could to keep himself from laughing. This _dead last loser_ was Yondaime's son? In his dreams maybe. "You, Yondaime's son? What planet are you on?"

Naruto simply opened his mouth and said, "You may not know who I am, Neji, but I know you."

"What do you know about me?"

"Neji Hyuuga, Age: 13, Eye color: White, Hair color: Black, Birthday: 3rd of July, Birthplace: Konoha, Blood type: O, Rank: Genin, Hobbies: Meditation. Neji Hyuuga is the #1 rookie of his ninja academy graduating class. He is also considered to be the strongest and most talented of all the Konoha Genin, until today that is. He also thinks his father was forced to go in Hiashi-sama's place when Kumo demanded a body in retribution for the death of one of their men, when in fact Hiazhi volunteered. He also is stubborn, hot-headed, fate-obsessed, and has a superiority complex that dwarfs the entire ego of the Hyuuga clan!"

Neji was impressed; most of that information was true. And it was impressive the idiot knew some of that.

"But there's more. Neji Hyuuga, also thinks that he has suffered in life because he lost his father. Well, today, I plan on showing him what suffering truly is."

"What do you know of suffering?" Neji said, about to go into a long speech about the caged bird seal.

"I know that you don't need a seal on your forehead to feel pain." Naruto shot back. Neji blinked, how did he know about that? "Let me tell you what suffering is, before I show you. Suffering is when you never really know your parents. Suffering is not having someone to comfort you from your nightmares when you are little. You at least have memories of your father; I didn't even know his name till I turned eight. Suffering is being hated by this village, maybe even more than a rouge nin would be hated. Suffering is having attempts on your life happen regularly since the day you were born. Konoha's council wanted me to die the moment I came into the world. You think you know what suffering is? You haven't even begun to understand the word!"

Silence. Many in the stands stared at Naruto in wonder. _"Was it really that bad for him?"_ Even some of the adults who had mistreated him gaped _"I knew I glared at him, but attempts on his life?"_ Neji too, stared at the boy, _"He's gone through all of that?" _

"So, Neji, prepare yourself! Pain is waiting just around the corner." Naruto said.

The protector started the match, and Neji activated his Byakugan, and slipped into the Jyuuken stance. Then Neji noticed something, he couldn't see Naruto's chakra coils, or the chakra points either. Naruto, however, had a huge grin growing on his face. "Weird how you can't see my chakra points, huh?" Neji looked up at Naruto, waiting for an explanation, "The first gift from my parents; my father's coat of invisibility. Designed by Hiashi Hyuuga during his teenage years, he wanted something he could use to sneak out of the compound without getting caught. So it not only hides my physical being from view when activated, it hides my chakra from your eyes even when it isn't on. Cool huh?"

Neji realized something very important; his entire attack plan was rendered useless. Without seeing the chakra points, or the coils, his Jyuuken would no longer be effective, and his plan to render Naruto useless was a bust. One thing he didn't realize, he was open for attack. "YAAAAH!" a voice yelled behind Neji, who was suddenly flying forward toward Naruto. Naruto sidestepped, as if he was dodging a person walking by. Neji landed with an "Oof!" He looked behind him just in time to see a Naruto ripple into view. Then the Naruto that had just appeared, disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen." Naruto said, "But you see, now that I've rendered your Byakugan useless, we can have a fair Jyuuken fight, what do you say?"

Neji, didn't say anything instead, he charged Naruto for all that he was worth. He launched two palm strikes toward Naruto both of which he dodged easily. Then Naruto sent a palm strike of his own, into Neji's thigh. "AAAAGH!" he cried, clutching his leg in pain. Neji landed on his backside clutching his leg until the pain subsided. Then Neji looked up at Naruto and smiled "You are in my field of divination. Hakke Rokujuyon Sho(Sixty-four palms)!"

"Hakkesho Kaiten!"

The crowd gasped, Naruto knew the Kaiten? What more could he do?

"AHHHHH!" Neji cried as he felt the pain of his own attack.

He fell backwards, onto the ground. Before he could move to get up he heard "Earth Style: Bone Breaker no Jutsu!" Suddenly Neji's arms and legs were caught in large rock restraints, firmly locking him to the ground. "Neji, this is your last chance, apologize to Hinata."

"Why should I, a genius, apologize to that wea-AAAHHH!" The restraint holding Neji's right leg had split in the middle; this would not have been so bad if the halves hadn't start moving. One half started heading left, the other started moving right. Five seconds later a sickening _crack_ echoed in the stadium. Naruto heard a very familiar sound; sobbing. Looked directly into Neji's tearing eyes and said "No. You will not cry. You are not even allowed to cry until you have been through as much as I have!"

Neji simply stared back, not even trying to stop the tears rolling down his face, "Please," he said, "Just cripple me…"

"What?" Naruto asked.

"CRIPPLE ME! You won, I lost. Fate weighed us and found me lacking. Fate said I was the loser. You can rub this into my face for all eternity, but please, please, for my crippiling, make it quick."

Naruto nodded his head. His right hand started to glow red. "Neji Hyuuga, from this day forward…" Naruto lifted both hands, "I, Naruto Namikaze, hereby cripple……your hatred." Naruto tore away Neji's headband, and he forced his glowing hand onto his forehead. Suddenly Neji had thousands of memories flooding his mind. These memories, however were not ordinary, each and every one of them were devoid of any opinion, completely unbiased. Neji saw his life for what it really was. Neji saw himself for who he really was, and he also found Naruto's description of him as absolutely correct. Neji saw himself for the jerk he was. Then it was over, Naruto stood there, hand still glowing, but in his hand was something he thought he'd never see. A caged bird seal. _His_ caged bird seal. Was he…_free_?

"From this day forward, the Neji that was will no longer be the Neji that is. Will you promise me this, Neji?"

"Yes," he said as if in a daze, "I promise you, this." Then the caged bird seal, the one that was on Neji's forehead as of seven seconds ago, started to dissapate, until there was nothing left of it at all.

Neji cried, not in pain, but in gratitude. Now that he had seen his true self he realized some very important, he deserved nothing good. He deserved to be crippled, he deserved to have his father taken from him, he even deserved the seal that was placed on him. Nearly killing Hinata alone was enough for Naruto to cripple him, but Naruto had shown him mercy, and even done him one of the greatest favors a Hyuuga branch member could dream to ask. "Thank you…Naruto…You are truly deserving of your dream…"

Naruto smiled and said, "I'm glad someone thinks so…" Then to medic nins came, a stretcher between them, and carried him off.

"Match winner, Naruto Namikaze."

The crowd cheered, and Naruto was bathing in the praise, until a voice, one he didn't want to hear called to him. _**"Sorry to ruin the moment Kit, but I smell **_**him…**_**" **_

"_Which one?" _

"_**The one who smells of snake…"**_

"_Understood."_ Naruto smiled and then before everyone's eyes rippled into invisibility. While invisible he created two hundred clones, and sent them into the crowd. He himself went over to Gaara. _"Gaara…Can you hear me?" _Gaara, looked around, trying to find who had said that. _"Gaara, it's me, Naruto. I'm speaking into your right ear, Can you hear me, nod yes or no."_

Gaara nodded yes.

"_Good, right now I have found an enemy of mine; I want you to help me. Will you do it?" _

Gaara didn't need any encouragement, but the biju in him gave it anyway _**"We must help wind, yes we must, help wind, help Naruto…"**_ So since neither he nor Shukaku were in disagreement, he nodded yes.

Behind the Kazekage an almost unnoticeable poof of smoke appeared. _"There is one thing you should know, my enemy is acting like the Kazekage."_

Gaara simply nodded. Then he faced his siblings. "Niether one of you will fight in the invasion, if you do, I will kill you." Neither of them argued.

Suddenly out of nowhere, the Kazekage went flying to the arena floor. "AAAHHH!"

"What the...!?" cried Sarutobi.

Then something else happened something nobody expected. The Kazekage's face came off. There it floated three feet above the ground. Then they saw who the 'Kazekage' really was. Orochimaru was staring straight at the face he had used as a mask. Then he started to see the fist that had grabbed it. Then he saw the arm, then the torso, then the other arm and the legs, but the one thing that caught his attention was the red chain that was connected to his wrist. That chain ran over to another arm, which led to a redheaded man with an aura that looked like nine-tails behind him.

"My father's second gift to me, Kyuubi." Naruto said simply, he then turned to Orochimaru, "You remember Kyuubi don't you? Because he remembers you."

"**And how you brutally murdered my Kit, and my mate, and let's not forget how you taught Mandra Uchiha how to use the advanced Sharingan to control Biju. As far as I'm concered, you are about as much to blame for my attacking Konoha as that annoying teme."**

Orochimaru stood up and said, "Yes I did, but you are a demon, who's to say that you wouldn't attack Konoha anyway?" Naruto and Kyuubi looked at each other, and laughed, leaving Orochimaru in the dust as to what they were both thinking. "What is so funny?" he asked, very annoyed. Naruto and Kyuubi ignored the Sannin, only succeeding in making his even angrier. "What is so darn funny?"

Naruto, after composing himself said to the Snake Sannin, "Why don't you ask you sensei?" Orochimaru looked at the boy quizzically. What could the boy possibly mean by that?

The Sandiame simply stood and said loudly so everyone in the stadium could hear him, "He means that none of the Biju are actually demons." Everyone gasped, "They are simply intelligent beasts with more power than many can believe. In perfect truth Biju are actually goodhearted creatures, and well as Naruto says, 'Believe it'."

"Well there you go, right out of the Hokage's mouth." Naruto said with a grin across his face. "Now as for you," he said pointing directly into Orochimaru's face, "Well, let's just say we got something special in mind for you." Suddenly Kyuubi and Naruto charged Orochimaru. He easily dodged both of their attempts to ram him, or so he thought. This fantasy was shattered as soon as the chain between them hit him in the chest. Suddenly the Biju and his vessel turned around, crossing the chain over itself, successfully wrapping the Sannin in the chain.

"Now we're goning to have some fun…" Naruto said with a sadistic grin.

"**Oh yes, I love this part." **The air itself seemed to tense with suspense when suddenly Kyuubi and Naruto did the most unexpected, cruel, and vicious torture known to man.

They broke into song.

"_Yondaime, Yondaime, Yondaime _

_Minato Namikaze, _

_Beat the snake, and took his sake, _

_And drank it all away, hey!" _

Almost everyone sweatdropped. The sang he verse again, jumping around Orochimaru, with all of the energy of schoolboys.

"Now for the Second verse!

_Hurray, Hurray, Hurrayhay! _

_Naruto Namikaze, _

_Beat the snake for goodness sake! _

_And threw him far away, hey!" _

Meanwhile in the stands, anyone who had any sort of relationship with the boy were now denying that they knew of his existence. The only ones who actually said they knew him were proud of the caught that he had caught a Sannin and was humiliating him before all of Konoha.

A kunai sliced though the air, heading toward the boy, it thrower smirking to himself, _"The boy go too cocky…A true ninja should know better."_ His smirk died as soon as the kunai hit a wall of sand.

"Geez, Gaara…Nothing like waiting till the last minute, huh?" Naruto said as the redhead made his presence known.

"Hey, I came didn't I?" Gaara said, huge smile on his face. The one who had stood in Orochimaru's defense thought maybe now would be a good time to leave. Only to find his feet caught in sand. The ninja paled.

"Hey, would you by any chance have Orochimaru's lackey caught, do you?" Naruto nearly laughed.

"Why don't you ask him?" Gaara replied.

"AAAAHHHH!" Someone screamed. Then a huge tentacle of sand revealed that someone to be Kabuto.

"Absolutely wonderful, now they can both die."

"If you kill me, Suna will attack!" Orochimaru yelled.

"**No, they won't." **Kyuubi told him, **"You see, the Kit had sent about a hundred clones out into the city, these clones took out any of your Oto nins, while at the same time, telling the Suna nins what happened to their Kazekage, which, in order to get his face, has to mean you killed him. Trust me; they won't lift a finger to help you."**

Orochimaru was in shock, absolute shock. He had nothing left. Every single trick he had was countered; he had nothing left at all.

"Now," Naruto said, "For your punishment, you will be locked; it an unbreakable dome of sand, with Kyuubi, and both of you will be restrained to keep you from performing jutsus."

The dome started to form and Naruto preformed the Bone breaker Jutsu, keeping both Kabuto and Orochimaru restrained. Once the dome covered his head, Kyuubi began, **"Now Orochimaru, my kit and Mate are going to be avenged, with a little of my own pain thrown into the mix. Hahahahaha!" **

Orochimaru felt his bladder go.

* * *

Chapter 3 is done, byebye Orochi, Kabuto, and jerky Neji! Until next time!s


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

Naruto is not mine…

* * *

It took three minutes. Only three minutes. As soon as the dome closed a muffled scream was heard. Gaara used his third eye jutsu to look inside but deactivated after two seconds of witnessing what the Biju was doing. Three minutes was all it took. The chain that had been sticking out of the dome faded and Naruto felt his tenant return. _"Listen Kyu, I don't care if he was an enemy, you keep those memories to yourself. Understood?" _

"_**Are you sure you don't want to see how I ripped his fingers off before going for his**__**-" **_

"_No!" _

"_**Party pooper…" **_

Naruto turned to his friend, "Gaara, whatever you do, do not open that dome."

"Why not?" Gaara asked, unknowingly letting the barrier drop a little. A Jounin tossed his cookies over the side of the arena. Hiashi quickly covered Hanabi's eyes. Hanabi got her sister's eyes while Hinata covered her father's.

"GAARA!"

"Wha- Oh Crap!" Gaara quickly recovered the gore that Kyu had left behind.

Finally, Naruto turned and said, "This proves two very important things: Kyuubi could have done at lot worse the day he attacked, and you never, ever, mess with a Biju's wife."

* * *

Sasuke, along with his sensei, suddenly appeared at the arena, to find his everyone in a stupor. They seemed to be traumatized by something. Finally, after his appearance was ignored for three minutes, he screamed at the top of his lungs, "WHAT HAPPENED THAT WAS SO AMAZING!?"

No one said anything, and kept ignoring him. This only served to make him angry. Finally Shino, sensing he should calm the enraged prodigy before he did something rash. "Naruto revealed himself to be the son of the Fourth Hokage, and a genius and stopped an invasion against Konoha."

Sasuke looked at Shino like he had lost his mind. Kakashi smiled behind his mask and thought _"I knew it…"_

"T-that's preposterous! Have you even met Naruto? He's a baka! A dobe! He's-"

"He beat the Snake Sannin Orochimaru, and he's been holding the Kyuubi since he attacked, also, apparently Kyuubi was forced to attack by an ancestor of yours."

"And so everyone just believes the dobe?"

"He had the word of the Hokage to back him up. If you want to question anyone, question him."

Then Kakashi said something Sasuke really didn't want to hear, "It's about time Naruto showed his true colors."

"WHAT!? You were in on this too?!"

"The Fourth was my sensei, he trusted me with some of his secrets, not all mind you, but his son was one of those secrets."

"So, you knew he had more power than a Sannin and you didn't tell me!?"

"He's not that powerful, and of course I knew. Did you really think I would let you go on a C-rank when you've only been a Genin for less than a single year? HAHAHAHA!"

Now Sasuke was absolutely furious, Kakashi had no faith in him at all, only in Naruto. "So you didn't believe in me at all!? Just Naruto!?"

"Yes." Kakashi said, "Don't feel too bad, Sasuke. Naruto has been training for most of his life and was a natural at jutsus. It's expected for him to be stronger than most Jounin. Oh, you better get down there, they are calling you."

* * *

Naruto was sneaking again, this time it was around the Hokages office, he was waiting for the old man to be in their alone, well, almost alone. Night had fallen an hour ago and Sarutobi was keeping 

his desk from being invaded by the hordes of paperwork, suddenly flanked by some mission fulfillment papers.

Then heard a small voice, _"Evening, Ojisan, long time no see. Would you mind if you can give us a minute alone?"_

"Of course," Sarutobi smiled, he snapped his fingers and an ANBU member appeared. "Please take your men with you until I tell you to return." The ANBU nodded and disappeared. "Now how can I help you, Naruto, oh and congratulations on making Chuunin."

_"Thank yo_u, Sandaime-sama." Naruto said as he rippled back into view. "I've come to request a favor."

* * *

Sakura walked to the bridge, she wasn't exactly as shocked as she was yesterday, but all the same. _"NARUTO WAS AMAZING!"_ That pretty much summed up her thoughts for the day. Sasuke sat on the rail, waiting for the team to assemble. "Where's Naruto?" asked Sakura.

"Don't talk about that dobe to me again."

_"Aw, what's the matter? A little sour are we?"_ Said a voice almost as light as the wind, when suddenly Naruto rippled into view. Sasuke glared, and Sakura was again shocked. "Ok, let me get to the chase, I'm going on a mission for about four years, so this is a good-bye. Sakura, truth be told, I never liked you that way, it was part of the dobe act. Sasuke, truth be told, I did hate you, but I see potential in you just need work more. Say good bye to sensei for me."

"You can say to me yourself." Kakashi said behind them.

Everyone stared at him, the impossible just happened, Kakashi was on time. "Apocalypse! He's on time!"

"Funny. You didn't actually think you could get away with it, did you?"

"Well, I tried." Naruto said with huge smile on his face.

"Hey when you get back, I want a fight with the real Naruto."

"I hold you to that. Oh and Kyuubi says he sorry that Yondaime had to resort to _that _jutsu."

"All is forgiven, as long as I get to beat him in our fight."

Naruto smiled, "Sure, I'll see what I can do."

_**"Don't you dare."**_

"Well, I'll see you guys in four years. Bye!" Then he suddenly rippled from view.

* * *

Team eight met in their usual spot, under a large tree. Kurenai, feeling like she needed to be the responsible sensei was there thirty minutes early. Shino arrived five till with Kiba in tow. Hinata arrived at three till.

Kurenai was about to brief the team about their next mission when an ANBU member appeared. "Miss Hyuuga is requested at the Hokage's office."

Kurenai nodded and told Hinata that she was dismissed.

When Hinata arrived, she found the Hokage, her father, and her crush. "Hello, Hinata," the Hokage said, "please sit." She did. "I'm just going to cut to the chase; you are going on four year training trip, your father has already agreed, you have two hours to pack and say good-bye to your team and friends. Your teammates are working on a fence and the other teams are having the day off. Any questions?"

Hinata looked at the Hokage, looked at her father, then looked at her crush, and one question popped into her mind. "W-w-why is N-n-Naruto-kun here?"

"That's the best part." Naruto said, a smile playing on his face.

"You're going to need a sensei…" Sarutobi said. Naruto and Hiashi smiled, while Hinata's brain began to put two and two together.

"Naruto will be my sensei?"

"Yes, do you have anything against being with Naruto for four years…Alone…?" Sarutobi asked. Hinata blushed. "Because I can find someone else…"

"N-n-no, Naruto-kun is f-f-fine."

"Ok, your two hours began as soon as you leave this room." She nodded, and turned to leave. "Oh, and there is one more thing, since birth you have been engaged to Naruto do you accept this?"

Before she hit the ground, the word 'yes' had left her lips.

* * *

Hinata ran down her list of things to do, she said good-bye to all of the girls. She had packed nine days worth of clothes; she planned to wash her clothes every week. She had her toothbrush, floss, and six extra tubes of toothpaste. She had a crank flashlight, and several other miscellaneous items. She also had a bag of cinnamon rolls, she would probably go without them for the whole time so she had to keep a small stash for herself.

She was waiting for Naruto to arrive. She was at the village gate, just waiting. She twiddle her fingers, waiting. Naruto then rippled into view, "Are you ready to go Hina-chan?" She blushed and nodded, "Excellent. Follow me."

Naruto then headed toward the training grounds. After thirty minutes of walking, they came upon training ground 44, the Forest of Death. Hinata looked over at her crush, as if asking 'What are we doing here?' Naruto just smiled and walked up to the closest gate. "Yo, Crazy Chick! We're here!"

As if on cue, Anko, said crazy chick appeared, "Don't you yell at me gaki!"

"Why not, I think killing someone's life-long enemy earns me bragging rights."

"Then brag, but don't yell it out to the world!" Anko yelled.

Naruto smiled then backed down, "Fine, fine, just show us our new home."

Anko mumbled something about annoying brat kids and their annoying brat fiancés, but led them into the forest. She led them deep into the forest, when suddenly they came upon a clearing. The clearing was large and it had a giant stump in the middle of it. Anko handed them a couple of tents and told them they would be living here. "Don't take advantage of her to soon gaki." Anko said before disappearing.

Hinata was blushing crazily. Naruto ignored it. He looked down at the tent in his hand and threw it away. He went through a series of handsigns, and mumbled something. A red chain began to form in the air next to him, as soon as it was four feet long, Kyuubi started to fade into view. Without saying a word they went to the stump, and taking out his sword Naruto began to carve a door in the wood, Kyuubi also formed a sword out of chakra and also began to work on the stump. After thirty minutes, Naruto came back out, Kyuubi in tow. Naruto grabbed his bag and disappeared back into the stump, and then he told Hinata to come in.

She followed and found the inside of the stump to be a five room apartment-like house. There were two bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room/living room, and a makeshift bathroom. "Sorry the bathroom isn't that great, but it's hard to install indoor plumbing in a tree stump." Hinata watched in awe as Naruto began pulling out a gas stove, a refrigerator, a bookshelf, and a generator out of a single scroll. "Luckily, there is a small underground river underneath the toilet, that'll keep it from stinking."

"H-h-how did you do all of this?" She asked.

**"It's the sword he has, another gift from his parents." **Kyuubi said, carrying a box of clothes into one of the bedrooms.

"Apparently, my mother was from a hidden village called Whirlpool, and the village was famous for making weapons, this one in particular," Naruto pointed to the sword at his side, "Is called the fox 

blade, it has several little abilities which are very cool. One of them allows me to convert my chakra into any element I could possible think of, this gives me the ability to have an affinity for any element, so, to answer your question, I changed My affinity to grass and this helped me carve the wood, I also used some wind and fire to help out also. The second ability is that it allows my opponents to become very unlucky, and allows me to become lucky instead. In fact, it's probably because of this sword that Orochimaru is dead. Does that help in any way?"

Hinata nodded.

"Good, now get your room unpacked, your training begins shortly."

* * *

Well there you go, chapter four. I'm sorry it took so long to write this chapter, I was surprised with a camping trip, and when I got Home I was exhausted. So, in answer to one of your reviews, Naruto is not Sannin level, he's high ANBU. Naruto was simply lucky that Orochi wasn't thinking strait. I'm also going to edit the first chapters to make them easier to read and to fix some errors of mine. I will (hopefully) update soon.


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto will never, ever be mine.

* * *

Hanabi Hyuuga stood with her team, in line to get their scroll. They had passed the first test and were about ready to begin the second test of the Chuunin Exams, the Forest of Death. Hanabi remembered what her sister had told her about the forest, the giant tigers, the forest leeches, and the poisonous plants. Hanabi mentally slapped herself for not bringing the notes she had written down. _"Oh, well, the past is the past."_

Finally, her team, team 23, was given their scroll, a heaven scroll. She then walked over to the second gate; at this gate was team 22, or better known as team Konohamaru. "Hey Hanabi!" Konohamaru said.

"Hello, Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon. How are things going?" Hanabi asked.

Konohamaru, seeing as how Naruto left, felt he needed a replacement, and was now wearing a bright orange T-shirt, with black pants. Udon wore standard issue shinobi-black pants, shirt, and fingerless gloves. Moegi was stunning. She had truly lived up to her claim of being the prettiest girl in the class. Her hair ran down her back like a waterfall, her eyes were burning with a determination that could blind someone if let loose. Her clothes were humble but attractive in the most beautiful way known to man. Her beauty was indescribable, but it was her strength was beyond words. "Things are ok, I guess."

Suddenly a voice came over the speakers, "Alright Gakis! You know what it's going to take, you know about most of the threats, but there is one more you guys need to know, The Three Fears of the Forest. Do NOT cross them. Four years ago I gave them two of each scroll, they still have them. The last team that faced them came back with only one survivor, and weather on not he survived is debatable. If you see any of them, do NOT challenge them, they will leave you alone otherwise. You may begin!"

Everyone jumped into the forest, each going a separate way, except for two teams, teams 23, and 22. Konahamaru had told his team to follow them. He had an Idea. At nightfall, Team 23 made a small camp; they would attack tomorrow, when most of the hotheaded ones were tired from the first day of rushing. Then Team Konohamaru appeared. "Team 22, we have an offer."

* * *

Hanabi was either shocked out of reason or her small crush had led her to follow him wherever he went, no matter how stupid it was. There were actually going after the Three Fears of the Forest. Just how stupid was Konohamaru? And yet here she was, following him. What does that say about her? She sighed. "Hey Hanabi?" Konohamaru asked, breaking her out of her mental monologue. "What do your eyes see?"

Hanabi activated her Byakugan. She didn't see much. She did see a woman; she quickly looked her over, a drop-dead gorgeous kimono, rather dark-blue, almost black hair. All she could see was her back. "I see a woman, she has a basket in her hand, and she is walking toward a large tree stump."

"Alright, we'll ask her about the three fears." Konahamaru said.

They jumped onward to the clearing where the woman stood. Konahamaru stood up and asked "Excuse me miss, we are looking for the Three Fears. Could you tell us where they are?"

Then the sweetest voice they had ever imagined responded "What are two Genin teams doing looking for them?" She asked, her back still turned.

"Well, we heard from that crazy lady that they had two of each scroll so I thought that if we worked together we could beat them one at a time, so then we could get back to tower, because well, I like that team and they are good friends of mine."

"So, would you stand by your friends even though you may die?"

"…Yes…" Konohamaru said, slightly unsure of himself. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"The Three Fears find those characteristics valuable among all else. In fact, because of such characteristics, they may let you live." The woman said.

Finally, one of Hanabi team members, a boy named Shinjid, asked "And how do you know so much about them?"

"Because," the woman said simply. "I'm one of them."

Everyone froze. Suddenly a blond man appeared; he had a sword at his side and was wearing a Yondaime style coat, underneath that he wore a white shirt with a red spiral design and black pants. He wore a leather wrist band on his right wrist, and on his left was a red shackle. "I'm one too." He said. The Genin slowly backed away, the woman still hadn't turned.

Then another man, one with fiery red hair, and claw like nails appeared in a puff of smoke. He had a foxy grin on his face that looked freakishly familiar, but Konohamaru couldn't place it. **"And I'm the third." **

"So," the woman said, "You have to ask yourself…Are you feeling lucky?" The woman turned and suddenly all of her thoughts ground to a halt. Hanabi too, stopped. "Hanabi? Is that you?"

"Hinata-niisan?" Hanabi asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Naruto asked. "The first Genin team who actually has a hope of surviving us, happens to be the very one we have to let go? That's luck?"

Konohamaru's mind suddenly jogged. "Boss…?"

Likewise, Naruto's memory jumped. "Konohamaru?"

Moegi's and Udon's jaws dropped. Everyone stared at each other. Team 22, with the exception of Hanabi, was wondering what on earth was going on and who on earth these people were. While Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon, and Hanabi had a sudden rush of memories. Kyuubi stood there and finally said **"Wow, this is awkward."**

Silence…Finally, at an attempt at conversation, Hinata spoke "So…How's Neji…"

"He's changed for the better, he's strated training some of the kids who never seemed to get the Jyuuken."

"That's nice…"

"So…Do you guys want to come inside?" Naruto asked, pointing to the door of their makeshift home.

"Uh, Sure." Konhamaru said.

Naruto sat impressed at the two teams that had found them. Apparently, his never-back-down, fight-till-you-can't-fight-anymore, hotheadedness had rubbed off on the Hokage's grandson. Fight the Fears of the Forest? Even though the possibility of doing so was almost non-existent. That's only something he would do. Konohamaru also had turned into Konoha's second biggest prankster in history. Hanabi had become a less shy version of Hinata. Udon had become a less-lazy Shikamaru. While Moegi had become a less-violent Sakura. Now all they needed was a less-arrogant Sasuke.

"Man, it's like an improved version of our generation."

"Well, they learned from the best, didn't they honey?" Hinata asked, her fiancé.

"If you mean us, then yes, they did." Naruto gave her a gentle kiss on the lips.

Silence. The younger teens found this kind of awkward, and Konohamaru finally asked a question that had been bothering him for a while. "So, will you guys give us the scrolls?"

Hinata looked at Naruto, Naruto looked at Kyuubi, Kyuubi looked at Hinata. In unison they all said the same word "No."

"What!? Why!?"

Kyuubi spoke up, **"Because, no one in real life would just hand the objective over, you have to get it yourself."**

"Can't you have a little mercy?" Moegi asked, "Please, Boss?"

Naruto hesitated, they couldn't hand the scrolls over, that's out of the question, but if they had some help in another regard. "We'll help you." The Genin cheered. "But you have to get the scroll yourself." The cheering died.

"How will you be helping us then?"

"We'll make sure you get to the tower in one piece. We'll leave after lunch; right now I want some ramen." And with that Naruto turned to the stove and began a small Ramen meal.

* * *

After Naruto had amazed the Genin teams with his seemingly endless stomach, the three Fears packed many of their belongings, "No point in trying to hide now." Naruto had said. As soon as everything was packed the little party began its mission. It didn't take long before the first scroll was captured, Hanabi used her Byakugan to see what scroll they had and then she set a trap for them, much inspired by team eight's trap that had happened four years ago.

Team Konhamaru had little difficulty as well, Udon's strategy was beyond sufficient in taking down the next Genin team, and perhaps it was the very presence of the fox blade that gave them enough luck to pick an earth scroll out of one of their weapon's pouch.

Naruto, smiled as the small party began to head to the tower. He was coming back to his friends, he was coming back to civilization, he was coming back to indoor plumbing, and most importantly he was coming back to the world's best ramen, and the village he had sworn to protect.

Then the one thing that could dampen his mood came up, someone was following them. No doubt Hinata and Kyuubi felt it but they were remained completely calm and looked completely oblivious. Naruto opened his mental link with his tenant, _"Let them attack first."_

_**"Understood."**_

Hinata had silently activated her Byakugan and was watching the Genin as they approached.

Naruto's face slowly grew into a smile, this was going to be fun. He touched the hilt of his sword.

_Crack. _One of the unlucky Genin that had been sneaking up on the company, had stepped on a certain branch. This branch had been the home of a colony of termites. In fact, this branch was near its breaking point, all it need was the slightest push. The Genin fell to the ground with a crash, when suddenly said termites, finding their home disturbed, began their attack on the closest living being, this being was the unlucky Genin.

"Ah! Ah! AH! AHHHHH! GET THEM OFF OF ME!" Naruto, Hinata, and Kyuubi all smiled.

"How, unlucky…" Naruto said, continuing on his way. Team 22 and 23 stared at the Genin who was on the edge of lighting himself on fire to get the termites off, then noticed their bodyguards had just kept walking.

They caught up to them, when they suddenly heard "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Suddenly, another sound reached their ears, the sound of a Genin burning his own skin off.

"The baka." They heard Naruto mumble, "He could have jumped into the pond."

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Suddenly a huge fireball came roaring toward them.

Hinata didn't even turn, "Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu." Suddenly, a giant whirlpool appeared out of the pond and engulfed the flames. Then the whirlpool kept going and a scream was heard in the distance. (For reference sake, this is the jutsu Kakashi used against Zabuza at the end of their first battle.) Hanabi gawked at the new power her sister had acquired. The jutsu she had just used was amazing.

Finally, the third Genin, appeared right in front of the small group, "You won't get passed me!" he cried.

"I had the first one." Naruto said.

"Well, it's not my turn, I had that girl who used the fire jutsu. Rather impressive she did that, actually." Hinata said, whispering the last part to herself.

**"Guess it's my turn…"** Kyuubi sighed. Kyuubi walked in front of the group. His killer intent spiked. His red eyes had an animalistic look, his whisker marks became actual whiskers, his teeth grew longer, his ears became pointed and moved to the top of his head. He dropped onto his hands and feet, his flaming red hair grew over his whole body. Kyuubi was the fox once more.

His giant figure towered above everyone, the Genins coward, leaving only Naruto and Hinata standing. The Fox inhaled with his nose, it was like a whirlwind. **"You smell like fear." **

The boy turned to run, but only wound up running into a trap he had set for a battle. The trap was very effective. The boy would never move again. Kyuubi reverted back into his human form. **"Let's go, I want some ramen."**

* * *

When team 22 and team 23 entered the tower, they split up and said their good-byes, Naruto along with Kyu and Hinata, stayed with Konohamaru. And when they opened the scrolls they found a very shocked Iruka. "Na-na-na-Naruto?"

"Hey Iruka, it's been what, four years."

"Wha-wha-what are you doing here?"

"I came to say, we're back, and ready to rock."

* * *

Chapter five is up! Just a note, someone thought Anko trained Hinata, that never happened. Naruto trained Hinata, no one else.


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto is no mine. But this cookie is! My Cookie!

* * *

Hokage tower was a mess. The secretary was unconscious. The halls were littered with paper, dropped by workers who didn't watch were they were going. The teams that were there for missions, reporting or accepting were shocked into a stupor, and the ANBU guards could barely stand on their own two feet. The Old man's pipe had clattered to the floor, and the Godaime Hokage's sake battle accompanied it.

"Aw man, someone beat me to it." Naruto said as he came in, noticing Tsunade sitting in the Hokage's chair, "Oh well, position for the sixth is still open, right?" Naruto asked the ageing man.

Tsunade turned to Sarutobi, "This is this 'Naruto'?"

Sarutobi nodded, "I think so anyway…"

"I was going to say he looks like his dad…"

"Yeah, me and my old man are pretty alike there's only one difference," Naruto said, "I'm better."

"And you're humble too…" Hinata mumbled, jokingly.

"I heard that."

"You were supposed to."

**"Alright, enough. No picking on each other until we get to the house." **Kyuubi said.

"Speaking of which, is the Namikaze estate ready to receive us?"

"Almost, we couldn't get into your father's mansion because we were in need of your blood." Sarutobi said.

"Ok, we'll take care of that we when get there, but I have a couple of things to do first, one of which is to report my last four-year mission. Let me begin by saying, it was a complete success." Naruto continued on to say how Hinata has changed and so on, how much stronger she is, the new jutsus and taijutsus she has learned, among other things.

Sandaime smiled the whole way through, "See, Tsunade, I told you he'd make a good teacher."

Naruto's mind, hearing the name for the first time, finally recognized the woman, _"So that's the Legendary Sucker, huh? This just might work."_ Naruto smiled. "Secondly, I have a complaint." Immediately, everyone's undivided attention was on the blond. "Due to Hinata's new growth, and my mask's destruction, I feel that my remaining in team seven is only a waste in my time and skill, I also feel the same about Hinata in team eight, don't get me wrong our experience in both teams was vital to our growth, but to better use our abilities, I believe we should form a new team."

"And why do you believe that a new team would be beneficial to Konoha?" Tsunade asked.

"Because without me on team seven, it would allow Sasuke and Sakura more time to grow, allowing for him to become more powerful before attempting to kill his brother, also, as Hinata's sensei for the past four years, I know her tactics and strengths, something that would take team eight a while to discover, and thus it would be a waste of time and manpower. As if that's not enough, it's no secret that myself and the Uchiha don't get along."

Tsunade looked impressed, those certainly were good reasons, but the teams were the teams. "You have some good reasons, I'll admit, but I'm not going to change the teams."

Naruto looked at her, a devious grin on his face, "Then how about a bet?"

Tsunade both hated and loved those words. The look on her face was one of inner conflict as she tried to pry the dice out of the hands of her inner gambler. "What do you have to wager against me, the Hokage?" She asked, trying to discourage herself from taking the bait.

"How does a list of all the jutsus I've made sound? I'll even add a nice retirement home in the Namikaze Estate for you."

Sandaime's eyes went wide, that was something he'd kill for, a home in the nicest place in Konoha? To live there until the end of his days…That was heaven.

Tsunade's inner gambler had already thrown the dice. "What's the challenge?"

Naruto smiled, "Three Chunin, six Jounin, against me, Hinata, and Kyuubi in his human form."

Tsunade looked at the three of them, three of their best Chunin and six of their best Jounin, there's no way these could survive. "You're on."

* * *

Naruto looked the Jounin over; all of them were familiar faces, Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, Anko, Ebisu, and Kurenai. The Chunin were completely new to him, but that didn't matter. Naruto then checked the environment, a lake nearby, a large open field, with trees surrounding the field and the lake. "Looks like we're going to get our fight, Kakashi." Naruto said.

Kakashi gave an eye smile and pulled out a kunai. "Looks like it, Naruto."

_"Kyuubi, listen good, when you see Hinata, tell her we each get two Jounin, and one Chunin, I get Kakshi , Gai, and the short Chunin with red hair. You get Anko, Asuma, and the big guy. Hinata will get Ebisu, Kurenai, and the Hyuuga chunin."_

_**"Gottcha, Kit. I'll tell her as soon as she gets back from changing."**_

The redhead Chunin was pacing back and forth, "What on earth are we waiting for?"

"My girlfriend to change, she doesn't want her Kimono getting dirty." Naruto answered him.

"Like that's all she has to worry about." The Chunin chuckled.

Naruto was tempted to say that it _was_ all she had to worry about but decided against it. No need to get the guy riled up. A familiar scent wafted under his nose. "And here she comes." Naruto said. Kurenai's jaw dropped to the floor. Hinata had ditched the Kimono for ANBU-like battle gear. She had Iron-plated gloves that went up to her elbows, a dark blue flak jacket, not a Chunin one, because she had to be re-ranked, but that would change after the fight. She wore black pants and a blue jacket, not as large as she wore during her Genin years, in fact this one was nothing like that jacket, it was more like Naruto's coat than a jacket. Underneath her jacket she wore a black fishnet shirt.

"Have I told you how beautiful you look in that?" Naruto asked his girlfriend.

"Only fifty times." Hinata answered.

"Well make it fifty-one."

**"Okay, Lovebirds. Pay attention, we've got a bet to win." **Kyuubi told the two.

"You're not worried are you Kyu?"

**"Me? Worried? Ha! In another life, maybe."**

"Good, we don't need you turning tail."

"Hey Honey?" Hinata asked, "How are we going to take them?"

"Three Fears techniques." Naruto replied, "And if they come back then we can practice Taijutsu."

"Ok then, will do."

"Are you ready to begin?" Tsunade asked.

"I was born ready!" Naruto yelled.

"Begin."

Kyuubi ran to take his three. His opponents didn't disappoint. They began throwing everything they had. "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!"

"Katon: Karyu Endan!"

"Seneijashu!"

Six fire balls and a flame dragon flew toward the Biju, which he expertly dodged, all the while avoiding the crazy snake mistress who had two snakes hissing at him from her sleeves. Once the fireballs flew past him, Kyuubi began a series of hand signs, "Fear of the Forest Technique: Nine tailed fear no jutsu!" Suddenly nine fox tails appeared on Kyuubi's back they slowly started spinning, growing longer and longer until they went as far as three meters, Kyuubi slowly moved to the closest opponent, the Chunin. Said Chunin suddenly found himself spinning at high speeds as he was caught up by one of 

the tails. Kyuubi then jumped the two Jounin, they two were caught up in the whirlwind of tails. The tails kept spinning, slowly rising in the air until all nine tails were pointing straight up. Then the tails dived into the earth, leaving only three heads above the ground.

Suddenly three kunai hit the ground in front of them. Each one had a tag tied to it. The three head's eyes went wide. They cringed, as well as a head could cringe. Then the tag showed itself to be just a piece paper with the words "Game over" written on it.

Kyuubi gave a sadistic grin that sent a shiver down Anko's spine. "I could have done much worse."

* * *

Naruto was laughing his butt off. Everytime his three opponents took two steps; they tripped on their own feet. "What the…? What is going on!? Were Jounin!" Kakashi yelled.

Gai decided to throw in his own two cents, "It is the youthful Naruto, his bright flames of youth blind our feet."

"Shut up you annoying, spandex-wearing…." The Chunin mumbled, fed up with tripping.

"Okay, that's enough of that." Naruto told them, "I'll make it easier for you, I'll come closer."

The Chunin's blood boiled on hearing that. "Shut up!" The Chunin charged Naruto, kunai in hand. Unbeknown to the Chunin, his kunai had a weak spot, a hairs width wide; one would have to be ridiculously lucky to find it. Well, Naruto just happened to be that lucky. The Chunin's eyes went wide as he saw his kunai split down the middle, cut by Naruto's sword. His shock lasted three seconds, because after that he was sent flying from a kick to the chin.

"Well, that was fun," Naruto said, "Now to end this, Fear of the Forest Technique: Fear of the Fox Blade no jutsu!" Naruto's sword glowed a brilliant white light, "Stage one: Fire" His sword suddenly burst into flame. Naruto took one swing; the flame flew from the blade, forming a brilliant arc that flew towards his opponents. "Stage two: Water" His sword was suddenly coated with ice. He swung his blade again, the ice melted then refroze, coming at the fighters as icy needles. "Stage three: Wind" the blade's aura seemed to grow disturbed, as if the wind around it were the equivalent of a category five hurricane. "Stage four: Earth" Suddenly, Kakashi, Gai, and the Chunin, found themselves caught to the ground by stone boots. "Stage five: Grass" Vines wrapped around their feet, binding them further. "Stage six: Lightning." The sword began to crackle, add that with the cutting power of the wind, and he had a weapon that would cause severe pain and rip them apart. "Game over." Naruto said.

Kakashi smiled. He was proud to say it, even though he had nothing to do with his abilities, he couldn't help but swell with pride. Naruto was _his_ student.

* * *

Hinata was in stare down with her three. Kurenai, her sensei, she have it better than the other two. Ebisu, the closet pervert teacher, his fighting skills were average, his affinity was water, like hers, so she should expect much of the same attacks, if he got out of her technique, that is. Then the Chunin, he would be unaffected by her technique, but then she could use the Kyuubiken on him, that would be something, testing the taijutsu on a Hyuuga.

"Magen: Jubaku satsu!" Kurenai thought she might as well try her favored genjutsu. As expected, her eyes quickly dispelled the jutsu.

"Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu!" Ebisu yelled.

A giant water dragon flew towards Hinata, thinking quickly Hinata flew through a series of hand signs on her own. "Suiton: Suijinheki!" A wall of water flew up, stopping the dragon in its tracks. Then Hinata began more hand signs. "Fear of the forest Technique: Fear of the Moon Eyes no jutsu!" Ebisu began to charge, then he saw her eyes. Black like the new moon. Kurenai saw it too. A slither of white grew at the left edge of her eyes, the slither grew until her eyes were pure white, the full moon. Then a black slither grew, and slowly covered her eyes like the white had. Waxing and waning, her eyes flowed through the stages of the moon. Slowly her eyes grew, nothing existed but those eyes. Months passed, 

and then years, then decades, finally, ten thousand years had passed. Only those eyes were there. Finally one word echoed in the darkness. "Gotchya." Kurenai and Ebisu suddenly found themselves tied to a tree. Their arms were separated so any rope jutsu would be impossible. "That only leaves you." Hinata said as she turned to the Chunin.

He looked up at her and activated his Byakugan. Hinata didn't bother, she simply slipped into the Kyuubiken stance. The Hyuugas slowly began to approach, then Hinata threw a punch, with enough chakra pumped into it to render the Chunin's arm useless. With the Byakugan, however, the Chunin saw the chakra as it came at him, he quickly dodged the punch and rolled backwards, putting space between the two of them, an idea struck Hinata. "You know, I've wanted to try this new jutsu, and  
I think you'd be a perfect test subject. Shugohakke Rokujuyon Sho!" The Chunin suddenly found himself dodging thousands upon thousands of beams of chakra.

Suddenly his arm was hit by one, "AHHH!" He felt like his arm had been ripped open, a glance at his shoulder proved it had been. Another one hit his leg. "AHHH!" Finally, Hinata stopped firing. She took one look at the wounded Chunin, and fired one single shot, at his chest. Luckily for the Chunin, it was much weaker than the first ones. He passed out. Hinata walked over and began to look over the wounds her jutsu caused. The damage was good, that meant she didn't need to add anymore chakra, but the amount of times she had hit, or rather, the lack of times annoyed her. She made a mental note to speed up the overall jutsu.

Finally she stood, and looked over to Tsunade, "You may want to attend to him."

* * *

Tsunade finished healing the poor Hyuuga Chunin, and looked over at the others; they were okay, despite being unable to move due to circumstances. They were beat. Bad. There was nothing they could do. She looked over to the Naruto and his friends. She had to honor her agreement. "Okay, so you win, what are you going to call your new team?"

Naruto looked to Kyuubi, sending him a name idea via mental connection. He nodded. Naruto looked over to Hinata, she shrugged while tilting her head to side, "Whatever you want." Her body language said.

Naruto nodded then said. "We'll call it…Team Fox."

* * *

There you go Chapter 6, in all it's glory. Sorry this took me so long, my dad wants me to 'regulate'


	7. Chapter 7

Naruto? Mine? Yeah right.

* * *

Naruto had to hand it to them. His parents knew how to live. The mansion, well actually 'mansion' seems a little small when compared to the giant building they found before them. The one building took half of the Hyuuga compound. It had three stories and a basement, each one with bathrooms all over the place, probably due to the large size of the house. It had a dojo, and artificial hot springs, a medium sized indoor lake, a bowling alley, and a library filled to the brink with scroll on jutsus. Naruto rubbed his hands in anticipation, he couldn't wait to start. There were six different bedrooms on the first floor, nine on the second floor, and one on the third, this happened to be the master bedroom. Naruto reminded himself to ask Hinata on what she thought about sleeping arrangements. Finally, there was the kitchen. It was big. It was large enough that it took more than ten seconds to cross it. When Naruto opened one of the cabinets, he nearly cried. It was a recipe for ramen.

Hinata, after being asked what she thought, felt that it was best for them to sleep in separate rooms, no need to ruin their wedding night just because one or both of them was a little amped up. So they took two adjacent rooms on the second floor.

After they had gotten settled in, a messenger from the Hokage came by, he dropped off Hinata's new Chunin vest, and Naruto was told that, after he had at least a year's worth of experience would he be appointed Jounin. Naruto nodded and asked if there was anything else. The messenger nodded and said they would have a week off before their team had their first mission. Naruto told the messenger to thank Tsunade for him and closed the door behind him. Naruto walked into the large living room, it had a huge fireplace off to the side, had two couches, and a large recliner. "To think this is just the one house." Naruto said as he sat down next to his fiancé, "We don't even know what there is in the rest of the compound."

"I know," Hinata said, "It's like the whole compound in one house. I'm surprised there isn't a grocery store next to my room."

"There are grocery stores in compounds?" Naruto asked.

"Only when those of 'inferior' blood open them, but still, that's the one thing that's missing."

"Ah. Well, that leaves one question. What do you want to do this week?"

"Well, I know something I'd like to do."

"What?"

"Sit here in your arms." Hinata said as she wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I like that idea." Naruto said. Naruto slowly leaned forward and kissed his beautiful angel. Someone coughed behind them.

**"Sorry to ruin the moment,"** Kyuubi said,** "but I have to bring up a very** **important issue."**

"Which issue would that be?" Naruto asked

**"Survival through sustenance. Any and all food your parents left has been expired for the last, oh I don't know, sixteen years. And don't even get me started on the refrigerator's current state, not to mention the milk."**

"You know what Kyuubi? You make an excellent point. So I'm going to the market and get some fresh food, Hinata would you like to come with me?" Kyuubi didn't catch the wink he gave to his girlfriend.

"Yes," Hinata said, "yes I would. But that leaves a question."

"And what question is that?"

"Who is going to make room for the new food? And get rid of the old food?"

Kyuubi stated to see where this was going. "I don't know, because if I'm going to the market, and you're going to the market, we both can't do it."

**"You guys are evil. You know that?" **Kyuubi said before they finished their rhetorical questions.

"Come on, Hinata, we better go before he starts arguing."

**"Like I can argue with the person that decides whether or not I can sit outside and breath?"** Kyuubi asked to himself annoyed.

He heard the door to the house close. He sighed and walked over to the fridge. He cautiously opened the door. Suddenly the pungent odor of out-of-date ramen, spoiled milk, rotten vegetables, and moldy fruits filled his sensitive nostrils. **"Oh! What died in here?"** His eyes suddenly caught sight of a dead mouse that had unfortunately crawled in there. He was dry heaving it. **"Here I am, the most powerful of the biju, cleaning out a refrigerator." **The kit was going to pay for this one.

* * *

Hinata was walking along with her boyfriend, who was carrying a sealing scroll to fit all of the groceries into. So far she had bought several different foods, including the essentials for ramen, and cinnamon rolls. She was just about to get some canned food when she bumped into a young man with black hair. "Ah, Gomen." Hinata said.

The man turned, "No, it was my fau-…Hinata?"

Suddenly it clicked in her head, "Neji?"

"Hinata?"

"Neji?"

"What is it Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto?"

"Neji?"

"Hinata?"

"Neji?"

"Naruto?"

"Hinata?"

"Naruto?"

"Neji?"

If anyone had walked bye they would have been just as confused as the three of them were. "Ok, let's stop that, my head is starting to hurt." Naruto said.

"Wow…" Neji started, "Hinata-sama. Wow, you look…" He paused. Neji didn't pause because couldn't find a word to describe her. He had paused because he couldn't use any of those words in front of her boyfriend. "…Absolutely amazing." That was good, and he wisely decided to leave it at that.

"Hey Neji," a female voice called out from inside a store, "Are you coming in here or wha-…Hinata?"

_"Here we go again,"_ Naruto thought.

"Hey Tenten," Hinata said, "It's been what four years?" Tenten didn't say a word. She did, however, faint. "So that's what it's like on the other end of it."

Neji scooted over to Naruto, "You better get Hinata out of here, before Tenten wakes up, otherwise you'll be stuck here for at least three hours." He whispered.

Naruto nodded, "Hey, honey, we better get going."

"But what about Tenten?"

"I'll take care of her, don't worry about a thing." Neji said.

"Hm, well, ok, just make sure she calls me."

"I will, it's good to have you back, the both of you. Oh, and if I were you, Naruto, I'd stay away from any of the Hyuuga elders, except Hiashi."

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"They aren't too happy about the 'favor' you did for me."

"Ah, well, they'll just have to get used to it. 'Cause I don't plan on slowing down."

* * *

During Naruto's and Hinata's venture they had a couple of more run-ins, namely team 10, team 8, and Sakura. Hinata, being much more spontaneous than she previously was decided to throw a slumber party, and invite all of the girls. Naruto decided it was okay, as long as they didn't destroy anything, or go streaking. So Hinata began telling the girls to come over that night, and bring their sleeping bags. When they got home, they noticed that Kyuubi was now standing next to a brand new, two door refrigerator. **"Trust me, getting a new one was a much better idea."** He said.

"So where's the old one?" Naruto asked.

Kyuubi thought about telling Naruto about how he took the fridge and used the Katon: Karyu Endan no jutsu on it, leaving nothing but ash, but decided against it. **"It's at the dump." **

"Fine. Now, let's get these groceries put away." Immedeately, the three of them went through a series of hand signs. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Six Hinata clones, nine Naruto clones, and telweve Kyuubi clones puffed into existence.

"Ok, Kyu, You and your clones fill the fridge. Hinata, take the pantry. I'll take of the non-food objects. Ready? Go!" Suddenly the scroll that held all of the groceries exploded, not a flaming explosion, but rather it launched everything it held into the air. White, blue, and red blurs jumped into the air, grabbing miscellaneous items, anything from clothes to food. Suddenly all of the blurs jumped to other separate parts of the house, accurately putting each item in its proper place.

Suddenly each blur jumped back into the kitchen, followed by a puff of smoke as all of the clones dispersed. "What would we do without Shadow clones?"

* * *

Ten o'clock PM rolled by, and Hinata's party room had almost all of its guests. Ino was over by the window, enjoying her time as she brushed Hinata's long midnight hair. Sakura sat nearby, looking through a magazine. Finally, a knock was heard at the door. "Yes? Who is it?" Hinata asked.

"Your favorite weapons expert." Tenten said from the other side.

"Come on in." Ino said.

"Hi guys, what's going on?"

"Not much, but things are going to start up now that you're here."

"Oh good, I didn't miss anything." Tenten came in and sat down.

"So what should we talk about?" Hinata asked.

"Well, let's talk about you guys." Ino said.

"Which guys?"

"You guys, you and Naruto." Ino said.

"Yeah, I mean you are lucky, you got the Namikaze heir, that's got to be luck."

"Not to mention he's hotter than Sasuke." Sakura said. Ino looked at her as if she had committed blasphemy. "Well, he is. I've been with Sasuke for the last four years, Naruto's hotter."

A knock sounded at the door, "Who is it?" Hinata asked.

"Here's a hint, I have two tails, I'm a fox, and my name's Toratica. (I'm not good at making names like those)" A female voice said behind the door.

"Okay, come on in." The door slid open, revealing a waist high fox, dressed in a beautiful Kimono. "So why are you here?"

"Naruto-sama wants to know if you guys would be okay if he took a long walk."

"Yeah, I think we can handle anything that comes our way."

"Very well, Hinata-sama, I'll go tell Naruto-sama."

"Oh, one more thing, why did Naruto send you instead of coming himself?"

Toratica giggled. "He didn't want any of you to attack him because he saw you in your underwear. Well, I'm going to go. Enjoy your night." The small fox left.

"She's such a sweet girl." Hinata mumbled to herself.

Sakura stood up, a confused expression on her face. "Who was that Hinata?"

"Hm? Oh, that was Toratica, one our fox summons."

"Fox summons?"

"Yeah, Kyuubi gave us a summoning contract with foxes."

"Huh?" Tenten asked.

Hinata sighed, "We really need to catch up."

* * *

Naruto was walking along the near abandoned streets, his only company being the fox in his head. _**"You're way too thoughtful."**_ Kyuubi complained.

_"How so?"_

_**"You could've seen the hottest babes in all of Konoha, in nothing but their nightgowns, or less maybe! And you could have blamed it on not thinking. But no, you pass it up."**_

_"The only one down there I really want to see is Hinata, and I promised myself I wouldn't until our wedding night, so shut up."_

_**"Fine, fine. Hey do you smell that?"**_

_"Yeah, it smells like…like…"_ Naruto stopped, in the middle of the road, sniffing at regular intervals, finally it hit him. A smile grew on his face. "Hey there Sasuke, it's been a while."

A figure appeared from the shadows, a deep scowl painted on his face, and the Sharingan spinning in his eyes. "I heard you were back, dobe."

"So you do remember me."

"I want to fight."

"No surprise there."

"I want to fight you and only you, leave Kyuubi out of it."

"What makes you so sure I can do that?"

"Sakura told me about how Kyuubi killed Orochimaru, I don't want to fight him. I want to fight you, and I want to beat you."

"Okay then." Naruto went through the hand signs for the improved version of the Servant's Freedom no jutsu "Freedom of a Trusted Servant no jutsu." Kyuubi faded into view, and then he walked away, back toward the Namikaze mansion. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

Sasuke didn't need any more encouragement. He charged the blond boy, who stood there impassively. He was almost on top of him. He dodged. Sauske only saw him because of the Sharingan. "Oh, so close, why don't you try again?" Naruto said as he stood behind the Uchiha. Sasuke tried again, this time, leaving his arms out for a tackle. Naruto stood absolutely still, and then at the last possible second, he disappeared, over Sasuke's head. "Man, you just don't seem to get it, you're supposed to _hit_ me."

"Shut up." Sasuke said as he pulled out a kunai.

"Careful, don't poke your eye out."

"SHUT UP!" Sasuke threw the kunai straight into Naruto's face. Naruto responded by catching the flying object with his teeth. Then using his tongue, Naruto flipped it, and then launched it at the Uchiha, using his mouth. It came at him surprisingly fast, and Sasuke found that if he didn't dodge that, it could be painful.

"So that's it?" Naruto asked, "I thought for sure you could do better."

Sasuke felt something warm creep up on his neck. He forced it down. _"No, not yet, wait for it."_ Sasuke knelt down, and held onto his wrist. "Chindori!"

"So Kakashi taught you that, did he? Normally I'd think you were getting special attention. Oh, wait, you were." Naruto said as his palm began to hold a massive amount of chakra. Sasuke charged, Chindori forward, but he did not expect what the blond did next. "Rasengan!" Naruto forced the spiraling sphere forward, directly into the ball of lightning. Sasuke went flying as soon as the two jutsus met. Sasuke slowly got back on his two feet, and then he looked over to his opponent, expecting the 

blond to be recovering also. Reality was not what he was expecting. Naruto stood, a smile on his face, he had not moved an inch. Then something happened that Sasuke thought for sure was just a rumor. Naruto disappeared. Sasuke was looking everywhere, he had to find the blond, there was no way he could fight an invisible enemy. How right he was. Suddenly, Sasuke went flying forward. "Ahhhh!" and he landed in a heap of trash.

"Now you see _that's_ how you do it." Naruto said when he became visible again.

The warmth began to spread again, and this time, Sasuke let it. He could feel the power slowly overtake him; he felt the extra chakra being added to his reserves. "Here's something I saved just for you, Naruto." Black flame marks slowly covered his body, but then it went further, the marks turned his whole body black, and two huge hands forced their way out of his back. Sasuke had awoken his curse mark to the second level.

Naruto looked at the new, winged Sasuke, and said "You look as ugly as a modern art masterpiece."

**"It doesn't matter, because you are going to DIE!"** Sasuke said as his Chindori started. It then flared a dark colored chakra, giving it a powerful and evil look. Sasuke charged the boy Chindori forward. Then something happened. Naruto sidedstepped, but he held his hand out. As Sasuke's wrist flew to where Naruto was a second ago, it was grabbed by Naruto's opened hand. Suddenly, Sasuke was flipped around, and he felt his own Chindori being forced onto his shoulder, but more importantly, his seal. The power slowly fell away, and his marks receded back into the seal.

Then Naruto lifted his hand, and it started glowing red. He then placed his hand on the seal. "Sasuke Uchiha, from this day forward, I, Naruto Namikaze, will cripple your hatred."

Sasuke suddenly had a flood of memories, everything he had done, every time he had coldly ignored each and every one of the girls, every time he had been arrogant, prideful, and cold. Every hurtful comment, everything he had ever said or done. Suddenly Sasuke found himself standing in a spotlight, surrounded by darkness, and in front of him stood an old man, and a young man. The old man stood, leaning on an ebony cane, his long white beard almost impossible to find among his long white hair. His face had many deep wrinkles from where a thousand smiles had sat. The young man had a torn shirt, thousands of cuts on his body, he was in need of a shave, and a medic nin. Then it hit him, both of these men were him. "Wha-?"

The old one lifted his hand. "I am the Sasuke that could be."

The one in desperate need of a razor scowled and said "I am the Sasuke that WILL be, if you keep living like you are."

Then a voice behind the current Sasuke said "One dies a grandfather of thirty, the other dies alone, in a ditch, at the age of seventeen." Sasuke turned and he saw Naruto, and his future counterpart, the Rokudaime Hokage. "One fights to protect those who are precious to him. The other fights with hatred for his brother. I'll let you choose which future you want, and then he will tell you what he fights for." Naruto faded away, leaving his Hokage counterpart. The aged Naruto looked at the current Sasuke and he said in a mellow voice "Choose wisely, dear boy. One fate can change another, and then another. I will not say to give up on your ambition, but do not let it ruin your life; it is too much of a precious thing to waste." Then Naruto faded from view.

Sasuke looked at his counterparts. The younger one had a wild look in his eyes, the older one had a kinder, understanding look. Sasuke stared at them "You, the older one, who do fight for?" He was confident in his answer; after all, fighting for someone else could only increase his chances of dying. But what came out of his mouth truly surprised him.

"I fight to protect those whom I find precious. Hatred was not the same kind of motivation like protecting those precious to me was."

"What about you?" Sasuke asked his other self.

"I used hatred. I Killed Itachi! It may have killed me, but I did it. I won! I did it! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Sasuke looked at the younger one like he was crazy. Then it hit him, _"He _is_ crazy."_ Suddenly Sasuke found himself back in the street, Naruto stood there, the curse mark floating in his open hand, a questioning look on his face.

"So have you decided?"

"I think I have."

"And…"

"I think Itachi can wait."

"Well then, I'm glad to meet the new Sasuke." Naruto said as the curse make disintegrated to dust.

* * *

Chapter 7 is up! By the way, 8 is my new lucky number! I just got my drivers licsence! Well, until next time!

Yours truly, Real Author.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey there! Real Author here, with the next chapter, chapter 8. Now I just want to say something before I begin, If you think Sasuke's conversion was too quick, you must realize that he's been given the choice of living for a long time, and having his clan on the path of being rebuilt, to having one year left to live, having the clan go extinct, and being literally mad with power. I don't know about you, but that would convince me. Also, since I suck at naming my OCs, I am going to name them after Kingdom Hearts characters (Which I don't own either). Well, let's begin!

Naruto is definitely not mine.

* * *

It was the morning of the fifth day in their week off. Naruto was enjoying the indoor lake, as Hinata used its waters for training purposes. "Shield of Water no jutsu!" She cried as a dome of water surrounded her. A nearby shadow clone threw a shuriken at her. It hit the water, and slowly began to sink to Hinata's feet. "Mizu Bunshin no jutsu!" Hinata yelled. The dome then formed into a water clone. They both charged the shadow clone, which started to defend herself against the original and the water clone.

The Shadow clone then destroyed the water clone, leaveing nothing but a puddle, Hinata performed three cartwheels backwards, giving her enough space to begin another jutsu. Her hands went through the practiced hand signs, as she began another jutsu. "Blade of Water no jutsu!" Hinata launched an arc of water toward the shadow clone. The clone jumped over the arc, and pulled out a kunai. "Encasing Ice boots no jutsu!" The Shadow clone suddenly found herself stuck to the ground by ice boots. Hinata began her second original jutsu, "Disintegrating water bullet no jutsu!" A stream of water launched from the lake and gushed toward the shadow clone. If the clone had been a real person, his/her torso would have been shredded to pieces.

"You know, you really should learn some non-water based ninjutsus." Naruto said as he came onto the synthetic shore.

"And why is that?" Hinata asked as she adjusted her one-piece bathing suit.

"What on earth would you do if there wasn't a lake nearby?"

"I don't know bring water with me, maybe?"

"So what, you're going to wear a water gourd on your back like Gaara? It would ruin your figure." He spread out a towel and sat down on it, waiting to drip dry

"Well what do you suggest?" She asked as she sat down next to him.

"Well, I've taught you the Rasengan, so why not some other Namikaze jutsus? After all, we have a whole library down stairs."

"You know what? I'd like that." She leaned in and kissed him. Naruto kissed back.

Naruto sighed. "I love you."

"I love you too. Hey, I know you've told me a thousand times, but could you tell me when you first fell in love with me, one more time?"

Naruto sighed in mock exasperation. "Fine." Then he smiled, "It was twelve years ago, when we first met…"

-Flashback-

A young boy was walking along a lonely pathway in the park, his smiling face shining. But it was his eyes that betrayed his thoughts, _"Stupid orphanage…Can't even tell the difference between a fox and boy…" _He continued on his way, barely noticing the little girl on the swings, until the scent of lilacs floated under his nose. He turned to see where the smell had come from, and his heart went soaring. Her pale lavender eyes, along with her short cropped midnight hair reflected the light in such a way as 

to make her look like an angel. Naruto turned away; he couldn't afford to fall in love. He couldn't let the villagers hurt someone else because of him, especially for something as trivial as love. Yet, he couldn't stop himself for giving her a second glance. That was all his heart needed.

Later that night, Naruto was haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl who smelled like lilacs. After three days of these dreams, Naruto couldn't take it anymore. "I've got to know who she is!" he said to himself that night.

He snuck into the library the next night, using the daytime hours to plan his way in, and researched everyone with pale eyes. Here he learned of the Byakugan. After learning of the Byakugan was the Kenkkei Genkai of the Hyuuga clan, Naruto immediately narrowed his search to Hyuugas. The more he learned about the family, the more he began to love the girl. Finally, after weeks of research, Naruto got a name "Hinata Hyuuga…" The name itself sounded like a chorus of angels.

-Flashback end-

"…When I found my father's box, four years later, I discovered in it a letter that said we were engaged. I was ecstatic, the most beautiful person in the world was promised to me, if she would have me." Naruto looked into the lavender eyes, "When I first discovered you watching me, my heart started to jump for joy, and I began to love you back with every fiber of my being."

"But you could never show it because of the villagers." Hinata said from memory, saying the sentence for her boyfriend.

"No, I couldn't. If you were to be the object of my affections, then if you did the slightest thing wrong against the village, they would want nothing less than your head. So I had to keep them off track and I began to follow Sakura. When I saw you watching me even after I had went after her, I knew that you really did love me for who I was, and I couldn't thank you more for doing so."

* * *

Later that day, Naruto, Hinata and Kyuubi were all looking for some good ninjutsu for Hinata. They began looking at many of the wind jutsus the Namikaze have. Hinata had developed a second affinity for wind during her training with Naruto. This made it easier for her, especially since the Namikaze's family jutsus were almost entirely wind based. "Okay, let's try this one." Naruto said as he handed a scroll to Hinata.

"The Vortex Punch no jutsu." Hinata said as she read out loud, "B-rank ninjutsu that creates a powerful vacuum around the user's fist which attracts any item, or person, in a two foot radius. The jutsu increases the force of the punch, giving the illusion of super strength. It can also be used to grab an item that is just out of reach." Hinata looked over the technical terms, the hand signs, and the needed shape of the wind to create the vacuum. "I'll try it out, see how it suits me." Hinata said.

"Okay then, Kyu, add it to the list." Naruto said, and then he turned to his fiancé, another scroll in hand. "How about this one?" He asked handing her the scroll.

"Kaze no Yaiba. A-rank ninjutsu this Jutsu creates a blade out of wind which, being wind makes it impossible to block. However, unlike the Kamaitachi no Jutsu, this Jutsu requires no tool. This one sounds very promising." Hinata said as she looked it over.

"Do you think that's enough?" Naruto asked her.  
**"It better be enough!"** Kyuubi said. Naruto and Hinata both looked over at him. He had ten scrolls piled in his arms.

"Yeah, I think it's enough." Hinata said to him.

"Good, I'll see you tomorrow. I'm going to bed."

Hinata looked at him with a confused expression. Naruto replied by simply pointing to the clock he had set up in the room. Its face read ten PM. "Already?" she asked herself.

* * *

Over the next two days, Hinata tirelessly trained with her new jutsus. At the end of the second day, she had decided to keep four of them: The Vortex Punch, the Kaze no Yaiba, the Whirlwind of Kunai, and its more powerful sister jutsu, the Great Whirlwind of Kunai. And then the Hokage called them to her office.

Kyuubi, Hinata, and Naruto dressed in their ninja gear, each with a kunai holder filled to the brink with weapons, and the Fox blade at Naruto's side. They entered her office, and she made a half scowl. There was silence for a minute the Tsunade began. "You may have won our bet, but you're still going to have to prove yourself as a team before you even think about getting a mission on yourself."

Naruto reverted to his mask's face. "WHAT!? HOW ON EARTH ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO ANYTHING WHEN WE CAN'T EVEN REACH OUR FULL POTENTIAL!?"

"Calm down, Naruto." Hinata scolded her boyfriend. "She probably has a good reason for HOLDING US BACK!"

Tsunade sighed, while Sarutobi slightly thanked the heavens for not having to deal with this headache. Luckily, the third teammate stepped in. **"Shut up! The both of you! Geez, you're like a couple of kids. She's testing our abilities as a team, how we work together as a team and how we work with other teams."**

The two teammates looked at each other, and then at the reigning Hokage, who simply nodded. "Apparently, you're the brains of the team." Tsunade said to Kyuubi.

Kyuubi smiled and replied, **"I like to think so anyway."**

"Okay, so who are we paired with?" Naruto asked, deciding to go along with the idea.

"You're going with team eight on a C-rank reconnaissance mission."

"Okay, so where are they?"

"They'll be here shortly."

Naruto got a huge grin on his face, "Then would you mind if we disappeared for a sec?"

* * *

Kiba walked into the Hokage's office. He was barely there as he listlessly listened to the Sanin. Then something caught his attention. "Your team will be paired with the newly formed Team Fox, who have disappeared for a second but will be back shortly-"

As soon as she said the words, the office was covered in smoke. A howl sounded in the distance, when suddenly, a horse-sized six-tail fox appeared. He gave a loud roar, which nearly deafened everyone in the room. Then they heard a crazed laughter, they looked and saw Naruto riding on its head, laughing his head off. Suddenly, behind them, they felt a huge release of killing intent; they turned and saw a huge image of a nine-tailed fox. Shino turned back just in time to see their late teammate step out of a lilac blossom.

"Was that short enough, Hokage-sama?" Naruto asked as the fox he was riding disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Very impressive, highly original, don't do it again." Tsunade said.

"Hey Kyu?" Hinata asked as the boss fox walked over, "You really need to go last next time, only one of them barely saw my entrance."

**"Well, excuse me."** Kyuubi said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Hinata let it drop, and decided to say hi to her former teammates. "Hi Shino, Kiba. It looks like we'll get a couple of more missions together."

Naruto looked at them, evaluating them. Shino would be ok to work with, he was cool and levelheaded. Kiba on the other hand, would be impossible. There no telling how he would act, especially if he was still sore after the Chunin Exam prelims. _"Oh well, I'll just beat him again if he's too much trouble."_

Akamaru and Kyuubi were acting like the canines they were and sniffing at each other. Thankfully, Kyuubi at least had the decency to change into a smaller version of his fox form, so it didn't make it look too weird.

Kurenai looked at the scene of the two teams temporarily joining. She foresaw many headaches. "Alright, we'll take care of the formalities later, you have one hour to get ready meet at the village gate." Naruto said "I'll be there." Then he shunshined away, quickly followed by Hinata and Kyuubi.

"Kurenai, I'll expect a full report on how their team interacts with yours," Tsunade said, "happy hunting."

She nodded and escorted her team out. Tsunade put her hands to her forehead. "Why did I take this job again?"

Sabutori sighed. "You wanted to see 'this young man who has guaranteed himself the title of Hokage.' and how you wanted the honor of being the one to hand him the Hokage's hat."

Tsunade grunted. "What on earth was I thinking?"

* * *

Naruto was packing the usual stuff: clothes, ramen, weapons, ramen, toiletries, ramen, a book for the trip, ramen, oh, and did I mention ramen? Finally, after being satisfied with his pack, he walked into the hallway and waited for his future wife. She came out with her own bag, while Kyuubi just walked out of his room, when you have as much spiritual power that Kyuubi had, you don't really _need_ anything. They headed out to the gate and they waited for the others to get there.

Kiba, Kurenai, and Shino all came around at the designated time. "Okay," Kurenai said, "Our target is a meeting with a Kumo Chunin and an Iwa Chunin. We are not to interfere with the meeting, but if they attack, we have permission to take them out."

**"Good, I haven't had a good tasting Iwa nin in the last twenty years." **Kyuubi said.

Kiba looked at the fox with a new found fear in his eyes, this guy _ate_ people. "Okay then, let's get going." Naruto said as he picked up his bag.

"You heard him," Hinata said, pushing her former teammates ahead of her, "get going!"

Kurenai sighed, _"What have you done to my student, Naruto?"_

* * *

There you go, Chapter 8, and all I have to say is so much for luck. I had three possible storylines for this single chapter, and it still doesn't seem to fit right, Oh well. Next chapter, a faked out Kiba, a good laugh and a first mission, until next time!


	9. Chapter 9

If I owned Naruto, He and Hinata would have been a couple, and Sasuke would have had his butt handed to him at the valley of the end. Since that's not the case, that must mean I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"Lovely day." Naruto mumbled as the party walked along the path through the forest.

**"Hm,"** Kyuubi agreed with a grunt.

"Don't grunt, you sound like Sasuke when you grunt." Naruto told him. Needless to say, Kyuubi never grunted again.

Hinata, meanwhile was keeping a love struck Kiba at bay. "Come on, just one dinner? We don't even have to call it a date."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No!"

"Oh come on, please!?"

"For the last time no."

"Why not?"

Hinata sighed. "You are aware that I'm engaged to Naruto, right?"

Kiba looked like the world had ended right there. "Huh?"

"I'm engaged to Naruto, have been since birth."

"…Oh…"

Hinata smiled at him, "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find a nice girl one day. It just won't be me." Hinata went up to catch up with her boyfriend.

"I told you she wouldn't go on a date with you." Shino said to Kiba.

"Shut up, Bugboy." Kiba growled.

Even though no one could see it, Shino was smiling underneath his large coat neck.

* * *

It wasn't long after Kiba realized his love interest can't and wouldn't give him the light of day, he began a rather one-sided, if that, contest against Naruto to outdo him in any way, shape, or form. Kiba threw a kunai at a nearby tree branch, and clipped off a leaf. "Beat that, Fox boy!"

Naruto looked at him, "What did you do?"

Kiba sweat dropped, "I hit a leaf off a branch, with a kunai."

"Only one? Ha." Naruto lazily threw a kuani up into the air. It whizzed past a couple of branches then stuck itself into a tree branch; Naruto made a shadow clone and sent it after the knife. Once the clone returned, he lifted it back up to reveal five leaves pinned to the tip. "Like I said, only one?"

Kiba shut up and began to look for something else he could try to outdo Naruto in. Meanwhile, Kyuubi and Akamaru were discussing how some humans the most impossible beings to deal with. Needless to say, they both agreed.

* * *

Later that night, as the party sat around the campfire, Kyuubi served dinner. It was enjoyed by everyone, except Naruto and Hinata, who lovingly shared a cup of (I'll give you three guesses…) ramen. Kyuubi's dish was a filet of some kind of meat, some vegetables, and rice. They sat down and thanked Kyuubi for the dinner. While trying to ignore the slurping/eating/kissing of the couple over to the right, they enjoyed their meal greatly. "Hey Kyuubi," asked Kiba, "What is this?"

Kyuubi got a big smile on his face. **"Well, it's a secret Kitsune recipe. Its rice, carrots, celery, and dog meat spiced with-"** Kyuubi was suddenly interrupted by Kiba trying to spit the food out as fast as possible.

"Ack! Ack! AHHH! Pufft! GET IT OUT! Pufft! GET IT OUT! Ack! AKAMARU! AKAMARU, WHERE ARE YOU!?"

The other two members of team eight suddenly realized that the presence of said canine companion was missing. They both turned white and looked down at their plates. Kiba was frantically looking around while Naruto, Kyuubi, and Hinata looked like they were about to burst into holding-your-gut-laugh-until-it-hurts kind of laughs. Finally, they couldn't take it anymore, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OH, OH THAT'S RICH! OHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Kiba was about ready to pound them. He grabbed the laughing Naruto by the collar. "WHAT'S SO FUNNY, NAMIKAZE?"

"It's-haha-It's not dog meat."

"Huh?"

"We played a joke on you, Kiba." Hinata said as she picked herself off the ground.

"B-b-b-but where's Akamaru?"

**"He's under the Kit's coat."** Kyuubi told them. Naruto then explained his words by deactivating a section of his coat that wasn't there before, under that section of the coat was a large bulge, which walked out from it to reveal the large dog. Then slowly the new section of coat receded back to the main body of the coat. They looked at Naruto confused.

"The coat can change to my likening when I pump enough chakra into it, rather nice feature, actually. Well, I'm going to bed now." He stopped to kiss Hinata before going into the tent. "Good night, my angel."

* * *

The next day went much like the first. Kiba was trying to outdo Naruto and failing. Shino was enjoying watching his teammate fail so miserably, while Kurenai watched, and took note of Hinata's changes. At lunch, Kiba barely touched the food Kyuubi prepared and went to hunt for his own. After lunch they began their travels again. Halfway between lunch and dinner, Kurenai gave a hand signal, all of the teens that had been on team eight nodded, and Hinata whispered something into Kyuubi's ear; he nodded and sent a mental message to Naruto. _"We are approaching the target; proceed in silence, and with caution."_ Naruto did so.

They silently approached; Hinata had her Byakugan active, and was no doubt scanning the area. Kiba, Kyuubi, Akamaru, and Naruto were all sniffing the air, while Shino had sent some bugs forward. Naruto found a scent and began to cautiously follow it. Soon he was followed by his fellow sensitive smellers. They found three Kumo nins standing in a clearing, Kiba whistled the song of a sparrow, and soon Shino, Hinata, a Kurenai appeared next to them. Soon three Iwa nins appeared, coming out of the tree line.

"You better have a good reason for this as a meeting place." One of the Iwa nins complained to a Kumo nin.

"Shut up. Do you want every Konoha nin to hear you, now come over here and I will tell you the plans."

The two nins approached each other and began whispering to each other. None of the Konoha nins could hear them. Then suddenly, Naruto rippled into invisibility. Hinata smiled and relaxed, her man would get the information. Suddenly, the Iwa nin back fisted the air next to him, and Naruto, suddenly becoming visible, went flying to the ground. "Impressive," Naruto said, lying there, "How did you know I was there?"

"I felt your footsteps, now prepare to die." The Iwa nin said. Then Naruto stood up, revealing the coat, and his other attire. The Iwa nin froze, recognizing the coat and the blond hair. "Y-y-y-y-y-Yondaime?"

Naruto smiled, "No, I much worse." Naruto then formed one of the jutsus that all Iwa nins feared. "Rasengan." The Iwa Chunin had one second to think before his chest became nothing but dust. "Now, who's next?" Naruto asked.

The Iwa nins broke for it, only to be intercepted by a Seven tailed fox with a huge sword. The last thing they did was scream. The fox came back into the clearing, carrying the heads of the Iwa nins. "Thank you, Cloud. (Cloud is owned by Square Enix, not me.)" Cloud grunted and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto turned to the Kumo nins "Now, one of you gets to live. The other two will die a horrible, and painful death. If you answer my questions to my likening, I may change my mind. Which one of you would like to answer my first question?" The Kumo Chunin charged. Only to be caught in two rock foot restraints. "Ok, you'll be a good candidate. What is your rank?"

The Kumo nin glared at him, and began some handsigns. He never got to finish, Naruto shot him with a bolt of lightning chakra, knocking him out. Naruto looked at the other two Kumo nins. "So no one's going to talk? I guess I'll just have to kill you afterthe integration specialist has had his way." Both Kumo nins were suddenly knocked out, and the last thing they saw was a puff of smoke and a very scary man coming toward them.

* * *

The three Kumo nins woke up in the most uncomfortable position, upside down. Naruto walked up to them, a shadow clone in his presence. "So you've returned to the land of the living, how unfortunate for you."

The Shadow clone spoke up, "Since you guys woke up early. I guess I'll have to introduce you to the replacement interrigation specialist." The clone motioned to his real self. "And here he is." The clone dispersed and Naruto got a sadistic smile on his face.

* * *

Team eight a Kyuubi were sitting around the campfire, eating and listening to the bone-chilling screams of the Kumo nins. Kiba shivered as another scream echoed through the woods. "Geez, what on earth is he doing to them?"

Hinata drank a small cup of tea as she listened to her teammate's question. "The Namikazes were excellent interrogation specialists, Naruto is simply reviving his clan's ideas, and as soon as I'm married to him, he'll be reviving the clan physically." Another scream. "In fact, I remember one time where he created his own technique for torture."

"What happened?" Kiba asked.

"Well, first let me begin by telling you that Naruto developed a new Taijutsu, the Kyuubiken. Kyuubiken is like the Jyuuken with Goken mixed together, so you have powerful Goken punches combined with the Jyuuken chakra injection technique. Now that you know the history, it's time for the story. We were in the forest of death during our four-year training mission and some idiot Genin came at us looking for the scrolls Anko gave us. One of them had the nerve to hit on me." Hinata smiled at the memory, "Naruto was so mad, he used a Kyuubiken strike to the guys 'goods' and, if I believe correctly, there was so much chakra pumped into that attack they exploded."

Kiba blinked, "What exploded?" he asked, wondering if he heard that right.

"His family jewels." A really high-pitched scream echoed amongst the trees. "Kiba, if I were you, I thank heaven for being my teammate, anything less and, well, let's just say your love-life would have been very boring."

Kiba took her up on that.

* * *

"Alright! Alright! I'll Talk, I'll Talk!" One bloodied Kumo nin said, "Please, please, no more." One of his teammates, who had just recently lost the ability to speak nodded, and mouthed the word please. The third was in too much pain to think, and simply rolled on the ground whimpering and holding on to 

the place wherea very important part of his anatomy had been. Naruto looked at them "Ok, see you in the morning." They were all hit with a lightning bolt, and then they went unconscious.

Naruto walked back into the camp, "Kyuubi, heal them enough so they stop bleeding." Kyuub nodded and went over to Naruto's handiwork. Said blond haired ninja sat down and said something they never would think of asking after doing what he did. "Please pass the mashed potatoes and gravy."

* * *

As soon as Team Fox and Team eight came back to Konoha, they went directly to Hokage tower, there they dropped off the more-than-eager-to-get-away-from-Naruto Kumo nins with Ibiki, who was slightly bummed at having damaged goods, but took them none the less. Then Naruto, who was within hearing distance of the Kumo nins said rather loudly, "If they give you any trouble just call me." They were the easiest victims Ibiki ever had.

They then went to the Hokage to report, to say the least she wasn't exactly thrilled that the mission didn't go as planned, but was happy that they would know what Kumo and Iwa were up to. She paid them then dismissed them, except Kurenai, who was to tell her how well the two teams got along.

"They were surprisingly cooperative, and Naruto's many skills were greatly needed, in fact if it were not a Iwa nin, Naruto would have probably heard everything and left unnoticed."

"Thank you Kurenai, you may go." Tusnade said.

Kurenai bowed and left. As soon as the door closed, Saurtobi coughed. Tsunade looked very annoyed for a second "Yeah, yeah. Hold your horses, Old man." She dug into one of her pockets and pulled out 100 Ryo. "I have the worst of luck." She said as she handed it to him.

* * *

Chapter 9 is up! Whoo hoo!!


	10. Chapter 10

Chaprter 10. Just so you know, when you see this, I will be working on the begining of my second story. So the updates my come later, I'm not dropping this! I'm still going to update this, just less often. Well, let's get the show on the road.

Naruto would only be mine if I became Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

Naruto and his fiancé walked into the council room and it immediately went silent. Naruto walked up to the only empty seats in the room and sat down on it, filling them for the first time. Finally Danzo stood up, "What are you doing here, Dem- I mean, Boy?" Instantly changing his choice of words when he saw the glare coming at him from the third and fifth.

"I see for once you have decided to hold your tounge, Danzo." Naruto said, his face expressionless. "As most of you know I'm the heir of the Namikaze household. Since my father, may he rest in peace, is unable to perform his duties as the clan head, I'm taking up the role with Miss Hyuuga as my advisor."

"This is an outrage!" Danzo yelled, "This, Dem-…Boy, cannot be Namikaze heir! It is Impossible!"

Naruto stood up, "It is also impossible for ROOT to still exist. But does it?"

Silence. Thoughts were flying through almost everyone's minds _"ROOT? Didn't Sandaime discontinue that program?"_ Hiashi wondered.

_"I thought I told him to end ROOT!" _Sarutobi mentally yelled.

_"Does he know about that? No, no. No one knows that it's still exists."_ Danzo thought, "What are you getting at boy?"

Naruto smiled, "What if I told you, I had undeniable proof that ROOT exists."

Danzo laughed, "I'd say that would be the biggest lie I've heared in my life."

Naruto smiled, "Really? Tell me Danzo, does the name 'Syu' mean anything to you?"

"No, it is just a name." Danzo lied, it did mean something to him, it was the name of one of the most rebellious students he had ever had. It was a miracle the boy was alive; the boy had a beating at least once a day for activities that Danzo would never allow in his program, namely playing games, smiling, and every once in a while crying.

"Really, well let's ask him, shall we." With a simple flare of Naruto's coat a young boy came into view. His skin was a sickly pale color, and he looked like he hadn't had a meal in weeks. Chouza Akimichi looked at the boys showing rib cage and wondered if it was possible to survive being that thin. Danzo, in a rare show of emotion, paled. "This is Syu, last name unknown; I personally retrieved him from the ROOT complex that _should _no longer exist." He shot a glare toward Danzo. "Syu is beaten at least once a day for smiling an earnest smile. He is whipped for making up and playing games, this boy has not once seen the sun. If this boy were to look at a tree, he would see nothing but what it is according to science, the beauty of it completely lost on him. Well, why don't I let the boy speak for himself?"

Syu looked at Danzo, a fire of hatred in his eyes. "That's the man! He killed my friends! He beat me! He destroyed my life!" the boy began to breathe heavily, "You made me lose my humanity!" The boy began to cry, but tried to stop himself out of habit. Hinata took him up and hugged the boy, telling him it was ok to cry.

"Take him to our house." Naruto told Hinata. Naruto turned to look at the council. "There is a saying, 'There is always someone who has it worse off than you.' After my childhood I thought I was that someone, then I saw what this _thing_ is doing to children. I knew my last name; these children don't even know what a last name is. I had hope of starting a family in the Uzumaki name, if these children even thought of hope they would be struck down.

"And the worst part is that it is being done in _our_ name. Do you know what that means? That means that all of Konohagakure is responsible for this atrocity! I can see Kirigakure if they knew about this, I can see them saying 'and they called us cruel for our methods? We teach them pain by having them kill each other; they wipe out humanity all together.' I can see Iwagakure, 'See what evil they hide behind their gates? We cannot let this evil continue.' I see Kumogakure and Sunagakure 'This is our ally? We cannot be affiliated with such cruelty.' If you add all of this together, you have another Great Shinobi War, and Konoha on the losing side.

"Is that what we want? Do we want Konoha destroyed because of one man's disobedience? I'd rather die. I will not let this evil continue. I would disown Konoha and throw away my dream of being Hokage if this is the kind of man I would have to lead."

The council was silent. This was a very serious matter, if Naruto was correct about this accusation, then Danzo's head would have a new home. If it was a false accusation, then Naruto would be shamed and most probably be put to death.

Then Danzo spoke up. "You have no proof against me. That kid could have been pulled off the street, and every word he said would have been a lie for a meal. If you plan to carry out your accusation, I suggest you find proof."

Naruto smiled a foxy smile. "I plan on doing just that, if the council will follow me." Naruto walked to the door. He was followed by Hiashi. Then by Chouza, Shikaku, and Inochi and the Hokages. Then Shibi Aburame and Tsume Inuzuka followed. Danzo stood wondering what was the boy doing then something he had said came back to him _"…I personally retrieved him from the ROOT complex…"_ That could only mean one thing. He had to stop that boy.

* * *

Naruto led the council members down a long hallway, when suddenly two ROOT ANBU agents appeared. "You will go no further." One said.

Tsunade walked up to them. "Stand down. He has my permission to be here."

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, but none of you are allowed to go any further."

"What? You WILL let us pass."

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, but none of you are allowed to go any further." He said again.

"What!?" She reared her hand back ready to strike the man. Only to be stopped by Naruto.

"Calm down, Hokage-sama." Naruto said, he stepped in front of her, his back facing the ANBU. "Allow me." He said. Before either could react, he punched both of them, straight in the jaw. "Pinning Kunai jutsu!" The two ANBU suddenly found themselves stuck to the floor, pinned by a dozen kunai. "This way, please." Naruto said as he continued to lead them. Finally, they came to a large room, with three chairs and a bookcase. Naruto walked over to the bookcase and started pushing it out of the way. Then they saw it. The council members stood at the top of a huge cylindrical room. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, the ROOT complex."

Danzo hobbled down the hallway. He had to keep them away from that room. Hopefully, his ROOT ANBU agents should have stooped them. He turned the corner and saw a sight that he had hoped he would never see. His two agents were pinned to the ground by dozens of Kunai. Then he looked down the hallway into the room. The bookcase had been moved. "Oh, no."

He had to get out of there; he couldn't let them catch him. If they got his hands on him he'd be executed. He turned to hobble out of there but then saw another sight he had hoped he would never see. In front of him stood Kyuubi.

* * *

Naruto looked down at the chain that held the toddlers and broke it with a quick slash of his sword.

"Why are you doing that?" One of the toddlers asked.

"Because I'm here to show you emotion."

"What's emotion?"

Naruto smiled at the boy, "Emotion is being happy or sad, loving and hating, being angry or confused."

"But the rules say we can't be happy."

Tsunade looked at the boy. "Well, I'm the Hokage, and I'm changing the rules."

* * *

Kyuubi dragged the very-much-in-trouble Danzo down the hallway to the council members. He threw him at their feet. **"Here is the man responsible for this. What do you want to do with him?"**

"Execute him!" Chouza said, "Children should not be put through this kind of torture."

"I agree with my teammate." Shikaku said, every hint of laziness gone upon seeing this injustice.

"I too agree with my teammate." Inochi said.

"I'd rather die than watch this scum live another day." Tsume said.

Shibi too agreed, "Logic may say that emotion would get in the way, but to annihilate it completely? That destroys ones humanity. If Danzo continues to live then the Aburame will no longer be a clan of Konoha."

"And the Hyuuga will join you." Hiashi said.

The council turend to Naruto. "I cannot let him live." Naruto said. "I cannot be Kage of a villiage that gives people like you life."

"So be it." Tsunade said. "Danzo, at the soonest possible moment, you will be beheaded. Which one of you would like the honors?" The council members looked at each other, wondering who would do it.

"I would." A new voice said.

The council members turned to see who had spoken up. It was a thin boy with the same sickly pale skin as Syu. He wore black, had black hair, and had a brush and scroll in his hand. Danzo looked up at him. "Sai?" Danzo asked.

"Yes, Danzo, I want to be the one to cut your head off. You ruined my chance to be human, I may never get that back, but if I can stop you from doing this to any other child, then it will be for the good of the village."

"Sounds good to me." Naruto said. The rest of the council quickly agreed.

"Tsunade turned to Sai. "Whenever you are ready."

Sai nodded and unrolled the scroll. He drew a sword with his ink brush. "Ink sword Jutsu." The sword jumped from the paper to his hands. Danzo began to squirm away, but was stopped by the bone breaker jutsu. Sai lifted the sword high above his head and brought it down.

Naruto stared at the corpse. "What a first day."

* * *

Naruto came home to his fiancé and Syu, who had stopped crying, naturally, and when he saw Naruto he ran to thank him. He hugged Naruto's legs tightly. "Thank you so much, Naruto-san. Thank you so very much." He began to cry with joy.

"It was the only thing I could do. I couldn't let Danzo use you, it just wouldn't be right."

Just then Kyuubi walked in, "Naruto, there are some people who want to see you."

Naruto nodded, "Hey Syu, I need to go talk to someone."

Syu nodded and let go hesitantly. He went to the door to see Sai and many others of the ROOT refugees. Sai bowed and the rest did also. "Namikze-san, we wish thank you for your service to us and we wish to repay you. Is there anything we can do for you? Anything at all."

Naruto stared at them, each now with a slight glint of emotion in their eyes, it was small, but it was there. "Do not ask me what you would do, instead, ask yourselves. What is it that you want most in 

life? If it is emotion, search it out. If it is a family, make one. If it is to become the greatest Hokage, then get in line." Someone actually laughed. It was small but, like the emotion in their eyes, it was there.

"But if there is anything you want to do for me, take each other, and support each other in your goals, become something, make yourselves a force to be reckoned with. Have it so that if one of you is challenged, he has challenged all of you. Rise from the ashes of this catastrophe, and become something new."

"Naruto-san?" Syu asked form inside the house. "What are they doing here?"

"I think they should answer that." Naruto said.

Sai looked Naruto, then Syu, finally, he looked at the congregation behind him. Finally, he picked up Syu, and placed him on his shoulders, Syu laughed, and Sai felt something in his heart when he heard it. "We've come to pick up you, Syu. After all, the Pheonix clan has to stick together."

Everyone that stood behind Sai couldn't agree more to his choice. And before Naruto's eyes, the Pheonix clan was born.

* * *

Wow, I have impressed myself. I wrote this chapter in the same day I wrote the last one. I also realized something; I don't know any of Sai's jutsus in Japanese, so my original ones are going to have some company. Well, check out my other story, as soon as I put it up there.


	11. Chapter 11

* * *

I'm Baaack!

Thank you Wirespeed91 for all the translations, and jutsus, I.O.U.

Naruto is not mine.

* * *

The sun rose on the village of Konoha. It was a peaceful day, until the Hokage looked into her mirror. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" A black and orange blur was then witnessed to be running to the Namikaze Mansion.

Kyuubi, who never slept, answered the door. "Hello, Kyuubi-sama."

"**Konohamaru..."** Kyuubi sighed, **"...for some reason, I'm not surprised that you would do something to Hokage-sama."**

Konohamaru looked down at his feet. "You heard that huh?"

"**Kid, EVERYONE heard that. The Kits woke up because of that."**

"Okay, yeah, that's the reason why I'm here actually."

Suddenly the sound of pavement cracking and wood shattering echoed from down the street. "KONOHAMRU!!"

Said boy paled. Kyuubi looked at him, **"Let me guess, you signed your name." **Konohamaru gave a weak smile. Kyuubi looked down on him **"You do know what will happen to Naruto if Tsunade found you here?" **

"Possible death?"

"**Quite possible death."**

"Okay…I'll see if I can…"

More sounds of destruction erupted behind them. "WHERE ARE YOU KONOHAMARU!?"

Kyuubi looked at the poor boy. **"Okay look, there is a secret passage from here to the Hokage monument. I'll let you take that."**

"Thank you Kyuubi-sama." Konohamaru bowed to Kyuubi then ran inside.

* * *

Naruto walked to the door, to see the Hokage, with a green face, black rings around her eyes, and the name 'Konohamaru' written on her forehead. He nearly laughed directly in her face. Luckily, he stopped himself. "Where is he?"

"I'm going to guess, you mean Konohamaru, right? No idea."

"Shut up! Where is he?"

"Which one would you like me to answer to first?" Tsunade glared at him. "I really don't know."

"He's your protégé. You should be held responsible."

"Like I'd have the nerve to do that to you!? If I had a death wish maybe."

"You got him started on this prank streak!"

"He's not even my protégé!"

"**Check the Hokage monument." **Kyuubi said as he walked passed them, **"But you didn't hear it from me."**

They blinked."Uh, thanks." Tsunade said, "Oh, and Naruto were having another council meeting today, since most of our schedule was taken by the Danzo scandal."

"Gotcha." Naruto sighed.

"Oh, and Sai Fenikkusu (Phoenix) will be there."

"So it's official?"

"Yup."

"Cool. I'll be there."

Hinata walked into the hallway, still in her nightgown, she yawned "What was that all about?"

"I'm not really sure, but we have a council meeting today."

"Ok, I'll go eat before I get ready."

"Ok, I'll see you there?"

"Yeah, I'll be there." Hinata said.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata came back from the meeting, bored out of their ever-lovin' minds. "I feel sorry for anyone whoever had to attend those meetings." Hinata complained.

"I know, during Tsunade's speech about Konoha's academy developments I could start to feel my brains melt."

"I would have thought they melted long ago." a voice said.

The two whirled around to see a man in a black cloak with red clouds etched into it. Beside him stood a blue man in the same cloak.

Naruto recognized him. "Itachi."

"So, you are Naruto Namikaze, huh? Not much to look at." The blue man said.

"Shut up, Kisame." Itachi said.

"Kisame, huh? I was wondering who in the Akatsuki had to be paired with the walking sushi roll."

Itachi almost smiled.

Kisame almost killed him. "Your going to die for that one, Namikaze."

Naruto ignored him and began too look around. "Hinata, can you find him?"

Hinata activated her Byakugan and searched the house for the nine-tails. "He in the basement."

Itachi and Kisame looked slightly confused. Who were they talking about? Oh, well, not that it mattered. Anything less than the Hokage herself wouldn't stop them. Unfortunately, what ran into Kisame was more than a Hokage.

"**Here comes the BOOM!"** Kyuubi cried as he launched himself into the Shark man. Kisame went flying to the opposite wall but before he could reach it he was met by Naruto's fist. **"Man, I've always wanted to say that."**

Itachi stood wide-eyed "Kyuubi...You're free?"

Kyuubi didn't look at him, but jumped over to the others, "As free as a trusted servant."

Itachi stared at them "Impressive, Naruto. You've found a way to let Kyuubi out."

"Well, genius is as genius does." Naruto said with a smirk.

"I completely agree with you, especially since I was one of those 'geniuses'"

Hinata stepped forward, "Genius this!Shugohakke Rokujuyon Sho!"

Itachi silently thanked his blood for giving him the Saringan, without it, he would have defiantly been impaled by the thousand upon thousands of chakra beams that came at him. Unfortunately, it does not have the 360 degree sight of the Byakugan. A Naruto shadow clone landed a kick to Itachi's head. Itach then, in one smooth movement, stabbed the clone with a hidden kunai.

Unfortunately for him he had to turn his back again. Naruto acted immediately. Itachi turned just in time to see a Rasengan fly towards his head. He ducked, but not fast enough to saves his ponytail.

"Hey! It took me forever to grow that!"

"Well it took me a second to cut it." Naruto smiled.

Itachi growled, "Well try this on for size. Mangekyou Sharingan! Amaterasu!"

Instantly the black flames jumped from Itachi's mouth. Naruto quickly pulled out a scroll. "Fuka Hoin!"A thick smoke quickly enveloped the flames. Then the smoke receded back into the scroll and the Kanji "seal"appeared and glowed a faint red. "Sweet! That worked! I've got to meet this Jiraiya dude."

Itachi growled again. "Well how about this? Tsukuyomi!"

Instantly Naruto and Itachi were sucked from their reality into a world of darkness.

* * *

Naruto looked around. Nothing. Suddenly Itachi came into view. "So...How's Sasuke been...?" He asked.

"Well, It's hard to say..." Naruto began, "But I believe that I'm reaching him."

"That's good." Itachi said.

"How are things in the Akatsuki?"

He shrugged, "It could be worse, they could have paired me with this idiot named Tobi."

There was a brief, awkward silence as the two foes stood.

"So...how are we going to do this?"

"Huh?...Oh, right. Well, you could _technically _punch me out of the jutsu. But it's just a theory. Or I could torture you for three days, and hope your girlfriend lets me live."

"I think it'd be best if I punched you."

Itachi nodded. "Sounds good." He readied himself for the blow.

Naruto gave him a very hard punch.

* * *

Itachi flew backwards and hit the wall. He got up shakily. Blood ran down his lip. He really hated how that jutsu took up so much chakra. Naruto also got up, arm around his stomach, seemingly in pain. Now would be a good time to retreat. "You have proven yourself, Naruto." Itachi turned and began to walk away. He stopped for a second. "Do what you will with my partner." And then he disappeared.

Kyuubi went to get ANBU while Naruto pinned the unconscious Kisame to the ground with the Bone Breaker jutsu. He then spent the next six minutes feigning pain. He then spent the next six minutes feigning mock strength as the Hokage questioned him on what happened. "It's nothing, really."

"Nonsense, the Tsukuyomi is one of the most dangerous genjutsus in the world, and you expect me to believe you came out unscathed? Now you are going to stay in bed for a week. Do you understand?"

Naruto hung his head in defeat, "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Good now I'm going to question Kisame. Hinata, Kyuubi, do you wish to join me?"

"I'll stay here with Naruto." Hinata said, without even thinking twice.

"**I'll go, you may need help opening that sushi roll."** Kyuubi said.

"Hey, Kyu, Send the memories. I want to see that." Naruot said as Hinata 'helped' him up to his room.

"**Will do, Kit."**

* * *

"I won't tell you anything." The shark man said.

Ibiki shighed this guy was tough. Perfect. It was time to begin the torture. Suddenly a light turned on. Ibiki grumbled and headed to the back room. There the Hokage stood, with Kyuubi. Tsunade looked at the interrogation specialist. "How are things going?"

"I've used all of my scare tactics, so I was going to start torturing him."

"**Would you mind if I helped?"** Kyuubi asked.

"Sure, why?"

"**I haven't had fish in years." **Kyuubi said, sadistically.

"Man that's freaky." Ibiki mumbled.

They entered the interrogation room with big, creepy grins on their faces. "How many times do I have to tell you, I WON"T TALK!?"

"**That's fine. You don't have to talk," **Kyuubi said, **"But you **_**do**_** have to squeal." **

"Who are you?" Kisame asked.

"**You mean you don't know?" **Kyuubi looked shocked. Then he smiled and began to transform. **"I am you're woRST NIGHTMARE!" **

Kisame was too stunned to comprehend what had just happened. But the next words did register.

"**I'M HUNGRY...AND YOU LOOK GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT."**

Maybe it was living with Zetzsu that taught to fear cannibals, or maybe living with immortals taught him to fear death. Or maybe even it was living and working with a crazed psychopath, who killed his entire family, that taught him to fear mass murderers. Whatever it was, though, Kisame suddenly learned what fear really was.

* * *

Naruto shivered at the memories that Kyuubi just sent him. That was one sadistic fox. Maybe that's why he made such good friends with dad. "Ouch." Naruto said in false pain as Hinata gave him a rather soothing neck massage.

"Are you sure you'll be ok?" Hinata asked her fiancé.

"I'll be fine. That Itachi is just a push over. As soon as you punch him once, he runs."

Hinata rolled her eyes, this guy was unbelievable. Yet, she loved him. "So what are we going to do for the next week?"

"Well, according to the Hokage's orders I have to stay in bed. Then again I never was one for following orders. On the other hand, she'd probably come back and tie me to the bed if I ever got caught. Then again, I have almost never been caught. But on the other"-

"Stop it!" Hinata nearly yelled, "You are going to stay in bed. I will go get some groceries and train. Once Kyuubi gets back he'll help me move the TV to your room. Ok?"

Naruto just smiled, "You think of everything don't you?"

"It would seem so." Hinata sqaid as she turned to go to her tasks.

"Yet another reason why I love you." Then Naruto curled up and went to sleep.

* * *

"ALRIGHT, Alright. I'll Talk." Kisame cried.

Kyuubi belched.** "'Bout time. I was about to ask for some tartar sauce."**

"Please, no more. Please."

Kyuubi smirked then looked to Ibiki. The man had a scroll in front of him where he kept large needles of various sizes and contents. Beside was a pad of notebook paper, this Kyuubi was a gold mine of ideas.

The light at the back of the room came on. And Kyuubi and Ibiki both returned to the back room. The Hokage sat there. "Will he talk?"

"Oh, he'll talk." Ibiki said, with the most frightening smile on his face.

Tsunade was almost afraid to look into the room. She dared a glance, and immediately wished she hadn't. She saw the poor man, huddled in a corner, rocking back and forth, missing both arms. That in its self wasn't too bad. What was bad was that one of those arms was on a spit over a fire. She could only imagine what happened to the other arm.

Kyuubi belched again. **"Oh, yeah, I forgot, Sushi gives me gas. Well do you want some?" **He offered a seaweed roll to Tsunade.

She looked like she was going to puke.

* * *

The week seemed to drag slowly on, especially for the perfectly fit Naruto. "I'm telling you I'm fine now let me do something!"

"The Hokage said one week Naruto. You're staying right there."Hinata said.

"Oh come on, ask Kyuubi he knows how healthy I am."

"**Don't drag me into this."** The fox said.

"Come on! I'll do chores if I have to, just let me get out of bed.

Hinata and a shadow clone of herself took some rope and tied it around him, so he was bound to the bed.

"This isn't fair!"

* * *

As soon as the week finished, they were called to the Hokage tower. Team Fox entered in a very dramatic way. Naruto rode on the huge fox, Hinata appeared in the lilac blossom and Kyuubi made his giant entrance, complete with suffocating killer intent. "I thought I told you not to do that agian." Tsunade grumbeled.

"Sorry, couldn't help myself." Naruto said with a smirk.

They didn't have to wait long before the other team came in. Naruto, who had been relaxing on the six-tails' back nearly fell over onto the floor. There before them, stood team 7.

There was silence for a brief moment. Then Naruto noticed something. "Kakashi, I'm hurt, you've already found a replacement for me?"

"Don't go too hard on him, Naruto," Sai said, "He only wants what's best for his team."

Naruto smiled, "Well, then I guess you're ok."

"Hey, dobe, what's up with you having a team to yourself?" Sasuke said in a friendly manner.

"Why teme? Jealous?" Naruto asked, jokingly.

Hinata stepped in, "Now, now, Naruto, don't insult Sasuke, he has a lot of stuff to worry about that you don't have to."

"Oh all right." Naruto said as he suddenly lifted the girl of his dreams into his arms. "But only because you said so."

Sakura's eye teared she longed for someone to do that to her. Hinata was so lucky to have a boyfriend as caring as Naruto. Suddenly the last thought struck her as odd. She would have never paired the words Naruto and caring in the same sentence.

The Hokage coughed. "Are you two going to accept this mission or are you going to just stare into each other's eyes all day?"

Naruto pondered on the question. "Well, staring into her eyes all day is something I gladly do any day of week, in fact, it would take a bag tied around my head to keep me from staring."

"Naruto..."

"Oh, all right."

"Ok, you have a difficult mission this time. After interrogating the Kumo nins Naruto caught, we have found out that Iwa was going to ask Kumo for plans on our walls. This is very serious. If our wall are breached it could be a massacre against Konoha. But because Iwa knows that we have found out due to them not returning, they may not try it and attempt something else. So what I want you to do is..." She carefully picked her words "...visit Iwa and see how things are going."

"So you want us to spy on them?" Sasuke asked.

"No, this is more of a diplomatic mission. I want you to gain audience with the Tsuchikage and talk to him, as my representative."

"Ah, I see, you're sending your most powerful ninjas to him to hopefully scare him out of attacking us."

"Correct, and with your father's history with Iwa, and your likeness to him, it should greatly help. That and Kyuubi."

"See, I knew he was good for something." Kakashi said.

"**Whatever, Kakashi." **

"Oh, one more thing." Tsunade said. "You'll be accompanied by my teammate"-

"It is I, Jiraiya, Mountain Toad Sage!" Everyone turned around to see a white-haired man sitting on a large toad. "I am the Great Sanin, and author of"-

Tsunade backfisted him, sending him flying to the other wall. "If you _ever_ mention the name of your stupid books within earshot of me, I will have you executed!"

"He writes books?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi simply pulled out the copy of IchaIcha Paradise that he carried in his pouch and showed Naruto.

"Wow...My respect for him has just dropped like a rock."

Tsunade let out a deep breath. "Anyways, Jiraiya will accompany you for the negotiations. Any questions?"

Jiraiya, who had just picked himself off the floor, with much difficulty asked, "Yeah, what's my dental plan?" he held out his hand and spat out a tooth.

"Any other questions?"

There were none.

"Ok, you leave tomorrow."

* * *

Well there you go, sorry this took so long, but apparently I like working on my other story more that I like writing this one. But I will finish it. Well see you guys next time! (One more thing...I have a poll on my Author's page, so please vote. )


	12. Chapter 12

* * *

Naruto is so not mine...

* * *

The Tsuchikage paced the floor of his tower. He had just received a message from Konoha. Tsunade was sending some ninjas on a diplomatic mission. This wouldn't be too bad, if his spies hadn't told him that one of them looked _just _like the Yondaime Hokage. This news was very distressing**. **On top of that two other ninjaswere Sasuke Uchihaand Copy Eye Kakashi. What was she trying to do?Declare war?He had half a mind to kill them as they made their way here. If he did, however,_ he _would be declaring the war. He had no choice but to let them come. He really hated Tsunade right now.

A ninja appeared behind him. "Sir**, **they're here."

The Tsuchikage cursed under his breath. "Send them in." Time to see how accurate his spies soon as he walked into the room, The Tushikage nearly fainted. He _did_ look just like the Yondaime Hokage.

"Greetings, Tsuchikage-sama. I am Naruto Namikaze, son of Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage."

* * *

The Tsuchikage poured some tea into Naruto's cup. It had taken him a least three minutes before the poor man recovered from seeing Naruto, then it took two more before he could put enough words together to order some tea to be brought in. Finally, he composed himself enough to have a decent conversation.

"So...Where are your teammmates?" The Tsuchikage asked.

"Sightseeing," Naruto answered, "I would, but the chances of me being assassinated in the streets would be very high."Naruto sipped his tea.

"It would be, wouldn't it..." The Tschikage said."I'm sorry, but I'm just too curious, who are your teammates?"

"Well, Team seven, my former team, is now composed of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Sai Fenikkusu, and is lead by Kakashi Hatake. My new team, Team Fox, is composed of myself, Hinata Hyuuga, the Hyuuga hieress, and Kyuubi no Kitsune..."-

The Tsuchikage dropped his cup. "D-d-d-did you s-s-say K-K-K-Kyuubi...?"

"Yes, Kyuubi no Kitsune, the nine tailed fox. You see, Kyuubi had to fake his death after Orochimaru killed his family, Yondaime, who was a very good friend, offered to help him. Unfortunately, it went a little too far, and my dad died. But with Orochimaru dead, he can resume his life, more or less."

The Tsuchikage believed every word. Hook, line, and sinker.

"Well, I must say, Naruto-san, I'm very impressed with your teams, you must have been a very important person."

"Unfortunately I wasn't. My heritage was kept a secret until I became a Chunin, and nobody really liked me. But anyways, to business."

* * *

Somewhere in Iwagakure, Sai was trying to enjoy himself. He found it fairly hard to do, seeing as how he had nearly no emotions. D*** Danzo. He ruined his life. He suddenly realized something and stopped walking for a second. He was _Angry. _He was angry. His first emotion. Whoa. He continued walking, that was very new.

* * *

Sakura was slightly annoyed at Naruto. It wasn't that he was mad at him, she was mad at his happiness. Hinata's too. How could they be so happy? Naruto was a loud, outspoken idiot, and Hinata a shy, quiet little girl, and together they made the happiest couple in Konoha. What was wrong with this picture?

Sasuke noticed her overflowing jealousy, and sighed. He shouldn't bother. But that's what the old Sasuke would do, and he promised that the old Sasuke would never exist again. He sighed again. "A ryo for your thoughts?"

Saskura jumped at the question. He cared? Sweet! "Its Naruto and Hinata. How can such opposites be so happy together?"

"Well, I heard Naruto say the day they met he should have walked up to her and said 'Hi, I'm you're other half.'"

"When did he say that?"

"Two days ago, you know, when they were just sitting there in each other arms."

"Oh..."

* * *

Jiraiya was walking along in the city, listening to the comments made by all of the old pervs.

"Isn't that Jiraiya?"

"Who?"

"Jiraiya, the writer of IchaIcha paradise."

"Oh, that Jiraiya."

"You know, IchaIcha is the best thing to come out of Konoha."

Each comment only served to swell the Sanin's pride. However, one incident on the way to Iwa managed to keep it in check.

-Flashback-

Jiraiya was looking through his notes. With the flip of each page the same thought pounded in his head. _"I need more material."_

Unfortunately for him, his new target was Hinata Hyuuga.

I would continue with retelling the events, but it would be a little too graphic for a 'T' rating. So let's just say Jiraiya made a note to _never, ever_ make Hinata into a character in his books.

-End Flashback-

His crotch still hurt.

* * *

Kyuubi was enjoying the sights with Kakashi and Hinata. Kakashi enjoyed seeing the points of interest, while Kyuubi told the story behind it, he should know, he was there.

"**And this is where the founders of Iwagakure hung their first traitors. Notice the large spikes that are stationed below them."**

"Cool."

* * *

"So, you see, if war was to be declared on Konoha, Iwa would supply at the very least six teams for reinforcements." Naruto said as he explained some of the finer points of the treaty.

"Only six teams?"

"Well, if what I've heard about Iwa nins is true, that's all we'll need."

The Tschikage smiled. He was such a suck up, but he was believable enough to make him buy it. This kid was good.

"And in return, Konoha will supply Iwa with any ninjas it needs if an invasion or battle is called on them."

Suddenly a resounding boom echoed in the city.

"What was that?" Naruto and the Tschikage cried. Not waiting for an answer, both ninjas disappeared into the city.

* * *

Hinata, Kakashi and Kyuubi were tasting some Iwa cuisine. It took them a couple of minutes to explain the situation to the owner of the restaurant, and after finally convincing him that hey weren't there to kill everyone, they sat down to , an explosion rocked the ground beneath them. Quickly, the Konoha nins, jumped, leaving the waiter a tip. "Maybe Konoha's not so bad..."

* * *

Jiraiya was doing some 'research' at the bathhouse._"These Iwa chicks are so hot! Look at the hooters on that one! That one over there, she's curvier than a road. That girl over there is"-_ suddenly an explosion was heard.

Jiraiya quickly forgot the women before him and his mind went into what he like to call 'Sanin mode.' By the volume of the explosion, it was 3.4 Km east, roughly in the center of the city. It was created by an special clay commonly found in Iwa and used for explosives when pumped with Chakra. Most known users of this clay are dead, with the exception of Deidara of the Akatsuki.

All this passed through his head in the space of a second, and in another second he was gone.

* * *

Sai had met up with Sakura and Sasuke halfway in between his walk, listening in on their conversation. "So you don't believe that two half make a whole?" Saskue asked.

"No, I think love is more like multiplication than addition. Two wholes make one."

Sai sighed. If only emotions like love were as simple as mathematics.

An explosion rocked , Danzo was good for something. "Quick," Sai cried, thanks to his training he knew exactly where to go. "To the center of the city."

* * *

At the center of the city. Three figures stood over a crater. "See, Sasori-san, Art's a Blast! Un!"

"Whatever." a large, bent over figure said.

"Will both of you stop it?! We have a mission to do." Itachi, The third figure said, "Why the leader paired me with idiots like you, I'll never know."

"Nobody move!" A voice cried.

The three of them looked up, and the top of a building, stood nine figures, Team Seven, Team Fox**,** Jiraiya, and the Tsuchikage.

The bent over figure glared at the taller blond one. "I told you not to set off an explosion. I told you they'd hear you, but no..."

"I'm sorry Sasori-san. Un."

Suddenly Naruto broke out laughing. Sasuke decided to ask why. "What's so funny, dobe?"

"Dude! Haha! I thought he was a chick! Haha!"

Sasuke started smiling. "Naruto..." he said, obviously holding back the floodgates to his laughter, "That's not funn-ha, that's not fun-ha, that's not-HAHAHAHAHA!" Both of them started rolling on the ground. Finally, Hinata cracked and joined them.

"**Okay, enough guys, we have a fight here." **Kyuubi said.

"Al-ha-alright. I'll-ha-I'll make sure to stop them."

Diedara smirked. "What can you do? Un."

"Tsuchikage, I have two questions for you." Naruto said.

"What?"

"The first one is, if I bring you Deidara's head, will you sign the treaty?"

The Tschikage thought for a while, "Eh, why not."

"Good, second question, was Deidara a part of the Iwa/Konoha war?"

"Yes, actually."

"Good. Team Fox! Triple Namikaze barrage!"

"Hai!" Hinata and Kyuubi said, quickly starting to form a certain jutsu.

In a Hidden Village like Iwa, not too many people forget the past. One of those pasts was Yondaime Hokage. Some ninjas still had nightmares about him. There were two jutsus he used and after the war, neither were mentioned in Iwa. Until this day.

"**RASENGAN!" **Three Rasengans came rushing at Diedara. Not for twenty years had he seen that jutsu. It scared him. Luckily for Deidara, Sasroi wasn't in those battles.

A giant puppet suddenly appeared in front of the ex-Iwa nin. Unluckily, whatever puppet it was, was completely and utterly destroyed as Kyuubi's Rasengan plunged into his chest. Hinata and Naruto ran at Deidara. "Double Rasengan Flying Drill!" Hinata and Naruto grabbed hands and began spinning in the air, forming aGatsuga-like attack. Deidara blinked. The next thing he felt was pain, inexplicable, excruciating he felt like he was flying. Then the jolting pain returned. And then, everything went black.

Deidara lay there, his torso was gone, his legs were gone, his arms (no real surprise) were gone too, disintegrated by the new jutsu. All that was left was the head, and a very small tail of skin which was all that was left of his back.

Naruto picked up the head by the hair. "Too easy." and threw at the Tsuchikage's feet. "You have a treaty to sigh, Tsuchikage-sama."

Everyone blinked. Team Fox had just killed a S-class ninja with one jutsu. Not to mention the fact that they destroyed one of Sasori's puppets.

Itachi glared. "It looks like we should come back another time, Sasori."

Sasori didn't hear him. His puppet was gone. Gone, no more. One of his most treasured objects in his life, with one attack, his puppet was dust. "You'll pay for that." He reached into his robe and pulled out four scrolls.

Kyuubi had seen those scroll before. **"Don't let him open those scrolls!"**

Team seven's turn to shine. "Choju Giga!" an ink Dragon came flying at Sasori. And rammed him, successfully knocking a scroll out of his hand. Sakura ran up to the giant hunchbacked man, and showed everyone her true strength. She threw a punch a Sasori's jaw. He went flying straight up. No, seriously, he went flying. A rocket launch couldn't keep up with him. He was in the air for a full ten seconds before landing. When he did, they saw the head was completely destroyed. An eyeball was hanging from a string, his jaw was off its bolt, and there was a large fist-shaped dent at the temple.

Sasori got up, then stumbled. His legs were broken from the landing. He couldn't move anything. The punch had destroyed the puppets neck, Sakura had hit hard and true. Sasori had no choice. A pop was heard and the large hunchbacked figure fell, a lifeless puppet. Out from him rolled a small, skin-colored round object. On it was written the Kaji "Sasori" meaning scorpion. Naruto picked it up in his left hand. He looked at it for about five seconds, and crushed it.

Itachi stared at the seven ninjas now facing him. Wait...Seven? He quickly counted them. Where was...Sasuke.

"Chidori!" Sasuke's voice called from behind him. Itachi stood there. Suddenly, just as the ball of lightning was about to hit him, he turned into a log. The lighning died down after it charred the wood, and Sasuke began searching for his brother.

"Sorry, Sasuke," Everyone whirled in the direction the voice came from, Itachi stood on a building, "I cannot die today. I must leave."

Sasuke threw four kunai. They only hit air as Itachi disappeared. Sasuke jumped after him. He reached the building, but his brother was no where to be found. _"No! Where did you go, you coward? Come back and face me! I have to avenge our family! I have to kill you! Why did you do it?" _Sasuke's fist quivered with rage. His face was twisted in anger. His onyx eyes holding a fire of hatred. The only thing that betrayed his anger was the single tear that hung on his cheek. _"Why can't you let me kill you?" _A hand fell on his shoulder.

"Sasuke..." Naruto voice said, "He didn't want to cause you this much pain."

"_What? What does he mean by that?" _before he could ask, Naruto fell backwards, asleep.

Before Sasuke could react, Kyuubi came with Hinata over his shoulder. Without a word he picked up Naruto and slung him over his other shoulder. As he stood up, he glanced at Sasuke's surprised face. **"The Double Rasengan Flying drill takes a lot of chakra." **Then, without another word, heturned and left for the hotel.

* * *

The next day, the Tsichikage signed the treaty, and the alliance between Konoha and Iwa was final. He would leave for Konoha in two days for the celebration that would be held. Teams Seven and Fox were givent that time to head back and tell the Hokage to prepare. They went on the trail home, happy that the mission was an absolute success. Jiraiya asked Naruto how he developed the flying drill jutsu Naruto preformed the other day, Naruto only smiled and replied, "What can I say, I'm a Namikaze."

"Well, kid, I have to say, I like you. You wouldn't happen to need a another team member, would you?"

"Sorry, that be a bad idea, I mean, you have a clan head, a clan hieress, and a biju on the same team, that's pretty unfair as it is. A Sanin would only make things more unfair." Naruto smiled again, then ran ahead to catch up with his team.

* * *

That night, as the teams sat around a fire, Sasuke approached Naruto with a question. "What did you mean yesterday?"

"What do you mean?"

"The 'he did want to cause me this much pain' thing?"

"What are you talking about, teme?"

"You said that Itachi didn't mean to cause me this much pain!"

"I did?"

"ARGH!"

* * *

Sasuke was about to get in his sleeping bag, when he heard a soft, wispy voice. _"I will answer your question another day..."_

"When?"

"_When you're ready."_

* * *

When Teams Fox and Seven came back to Konoha, they immediately went to the Hokage tower. Tsunade was pleased to hear that the Tsuchikage signed the treaty, but wasn't to pleased that The two teams had gotten along, but was greatly pleased that Naruto had caused Jiraiya serious pain for researching on Hinata. When the teams had left Tsunade was in a good mood, which soon changed into a bad mood as soon as the Saindiame gave a slight cough.

Tsunade gave him a look, which was then followed by two hundred ryo. "I've really got to stop this."

* * *

Naruto was in a rather generous mood that day and he asked Team seven if they had anything to do the next day. Sai had clan business to attend to, but Sasuke and Sakura were free the next day. "Good come over tomorrow and bring swimsuits."

Sasuke and Sakura had no idea why they had to bring swimsuits, but did anyway. They knocked on the door, and Kyuubi answered, in a swimsuit. **"Oh, good, you're here. Follow me."**

Kyuubi led them to the indoor lake, and they suddenly realized why they had to bring swimsuits.

"Think of it as a beach without being able to tan, or get a sunburn." Naruto said as he ran into the water. Sakura loved the idea, especially since she could be in a bikini in front of Sasuke. They enjoyed their day of swimming, sand burying, and sand castle building, and it did them some good. Sasuke finally had some fun, something he hadn't done in years. For once, life was good.

* * *

Another chapter bites the dust!

Could you guys do me a favor and go grammar/spelling Nazi on this chapter please?

See ya around.


	13. Chapter 13

I do own Naruto, (I hear sirens out my window) Just kidding!

* * *

Naruto couldn't believe it. He had promised himself so many times to never take after his sensei. Yet, here he was, a sandwich in his mouth, his coat hanging only on one arm, his headband tied haphazardly on his head. He was late. Naruto ran for the Hokage tower, trying to retie his headband whileeating a ham and cheese sandwich. He reached the door, but instead of going in, he ran up the side of the building.

Some ANBU joined him. "Stop, we need Identification!"

"Aw, guys, not now." Naruto moaned. "I'm so late,"

"Be that as it may, we need identification."

"Come on guys, give me a break."

"No can do."

"Look, it's not like I'm trying to kill anybody." Naruto said, still running up the side of the building.

"Then you wouldn't mind giving us identification."

Naruto kept running, "You guys are worse that the airport."

The ANBU kept running, and asking for identification, while Narutokept running up the building. Finally one ANBU ran up beside him. "Stop running and give me your identification.

Naruto just looked at him then said, "You should watch were you are going."

Before the ANBU could understand what he said, he ran directly into a flagpole. Naruto reached the Hokage's office "I'm here!" He said as he jumped through the window.

The Godaime Hokage glared at him. "You're late."

"Apparently Kakashi had a greater impact on my life than I thought." Naruto said with a pitiful attempt to brighten Tusnade's mood toward him.

It failed.

"So...The mission?..."

"You and Team ten are going as guards to the Kazekage."

"Ok, hey, who got the job, anyways?"

Sandaime spoke up, "A good friend of yours, Gaara."

"AWESOME!"

"You leave in an hour." Tusnade said.

"Yes Mam'!" Naruto said before jumping out the window.

* * *

"**Are you ready, guys?"** Kyuubi asked the gathered teams.

"Troublesome..."

"**I'll take that as a yes."**

And so the two teams departed. Hinata and Ino were talking together while the guys walked in the front.

"Hey, Shikamaru." Naruto said.

"What is it Naruto?"

"Why don't you wear your Kunai holster on your arm or something?"

Shikamaru's interest was perked. "Why would I do that?"

"It's when you use your Shadow techniques, you can grab a weapon that won't be there for the enemy, so you'd be armed, and he won't be."

Shikamaru thought for a second. That could work, "It would also..."

"...Work vise versa, you could stab yourself with a kunai that wasn't there, while the other guy..."

"...killed himself."

Kyuubi sighed. **"There they go, sharing theories already."**

"Well, it's expected isn't?" Chouji asked, "I mean, they _are_ geniuses."

"**Yeah, they are. I guess it's for the best."**

"Um, Kyuubi-sama, I have some questions for you."

"**Go ahead, what are they?"**

"I understand that you were forced to attack Konoha because of Madra Uchiha's Sharingan, but I don't understand why he would have a grudge against Konoha."

"**Well, you see, for a question like that, we must go back several generations to the founding of Konoha..."**

* * *

They reached the desert. The sudden ending of trees and the even more sudden sandy road seemed to stretch for miles anounced the approaching of the desert. Naruto took out a scroll, and from it popped up six canteens. He gave one to everyone, except Kyuubi, who didn't need it. He then said that they should get across in two days. Team ten looked at him like he was crazy. "Two days?" Asuma asked, "More like we'd get lost in two days."

"Asuma-san," Hinata said, "Naruto knows exactly what he's talking about."

Naruto bit his thumb, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Suddenly a huge, Eight tailed Fox appeared. Team ten stood in awe at the colossal size of in it and in a feminine voice it said **"Kyuubi-sama, Naruto-sama, Hinata-sama, I'm here to do your bidding."**

"**How many times do I have to tell you not to suck up?" **Kyuubi asked the Kitsune.

The giant fox grinned an innocent smile, **"I have no idea what you're talking about Kyuubi-sama."**

"**Yeah, yeah." **Then under his breath he added, **"Geez, you promote a Kitsune one time, and suddenly they're your best friend and they'd drop anything to help you."**

"Jasmine, we need you to get us to the Sand, that shouldn't be too hard."

"**Not at all, I will take you there with all my speed."**

"Good, okay, everybody, let's mount up."

As soon as the party had found a comfortable spot on Jasmine's back, she shot off into the desert.

* * *

Soon, Sunagakure rose above the horizon. "Thanks, Jasmine, that's enough."

"**Okay, I'll drop you off here." **Jasmine slowed to a stop and came to rest a mile from the cliff that surrounded Suna.

Team fox thanked Jasmine, she poofed away, then they turned to Team ten. They looked sick. "Don't worry," Naruto said, "The first time is the worst."

Ino ran over to a nearby dune and everyone heard her give up her lunch.

* * *

The two teams walked into Sunagakure. It did not take long for a red-haired boy to come and greet them. "Naruto! It has been too long." He said as he walked over and hugged the boy.

"Gaara, long time no see, buddy." The blond responded.

"So how are things going in Konoha?"

"Oh, you know, the usual, but you, I mean look at you, Kazekage!"

"Oh, it's nothing really."

"Nothing?"

"Ok, it's a little something."

"Oh, Gaara, before I forget, this is my team, you've already met Kyuubi."

"**Yo."** The Kitsune said.

"This is my future wife, Hinata Hyuuga."

"It's wonderful to meet you Kazekage-sama." Hinata said as she bowed.

"And this is team ten, our companions. They are Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akimichi, Ino Yamanka, and their sensei, Asuma, Sarutobi."

"Welcome to Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand."

* * *

It didn't take long for Temari, a blond with her hair done in four pig tails to find Shikamaru. She had remembered the unexplained kindness he did to her atthe Chunin exams,and she wanted to repay him. Shikamaru would regret giving up on that day for the rest of his life. But we will leave them for now, and join the rest of the party. They sat in the Kazekage's office. Gaara was briefing them on a rather disturbing situation. "Two weeks ago, an attempt was made on my life. I took care of the idiot who attacked me, but two days later he seemed to come back."

"What do you mean by come back?" Naruto asked

"That's just it, I'm not entirely sure, he just seemed to return from the dead."

"Hm...I have a question Gaara, did he have a little gold medallion? About yay big?"

"Yes actually."

"Ok, second question, did he wear a black robe with red clouds on it?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

Naruto looked at Kyuubi and they both said the same name at the same time, "Hidan."

"Who?" Ino asked.

"He's a member of the Ataksuki, and a follower of Jashin." Naruto answered.

"Who is Jashin?"

"**The Followers of Jashin is a cult that mocks the true god, the Great One." **Kyuubi explained,** "The Followers use demonic rituals and charms to grant immortality. Of course the poor souls have no idea that they are really destroying themselves. Poor wretched devils."**

"Hidan is especially dangerous, the immortality ritual is especially dark, even for most of the followers. In short, he's an extremist." Naruto finished.

"The Ataksuki are also a force to be reckoned with. Their leader, whoever he is, believes that by using the power of all the biju, he can create a jutsu that will bring peace to the world, what he doesn't mention is the destruction of most of the world."

"How do you know all of this?" Gaara asked.

"Kyuubi keeps tabs on the people after him." Naruto said simply.

"Interesting. Well, now that I know what is after me, would you like to be employed as my bodyguards until this threat is dealt with?"

"**No problem, I don't have to sleep, so I can watch over you 24/7." **Kyuubi said.

"And Hinata and I can place some fox summon guards on you too." Naruto said. "And in the case of an emergency, we can be called and take care of them."

"Excellent, I'll have a hotel room set up for you and you can settle down there for a while." He picked up a stack of papers with a sand tentacle, "Enjoy your stay in Suna."

* * *

Let us now return to the poor Nara who is forced to eat at a five star restaurant, and has no choice but to follow a drop-dead gorgeous woman all day. "Troublesome." he mumbled under his breath. Admittedly, the food was good, but the walking was killing him, he only wanted to take a nap, unfortunately for him, Temari's history lesson was boring him, only increasing the urge to sleep.

"This is were the first Kazekage declared Suna a Hidden Village, it was the year 723..."

"Zzzz."

Temari glanced at Shikamaru, and nearly slapped him awake. Luckily for him, she decided to gently wake and ask him if he was tired, after all coming all the from Konoha was a long and tiering trip. "Hey, are you tiered?"

"Yes actually."

"Well, my brother probably has a hotel room set up for you guys. Do you want to go there and we can continue this another day?"

"That...would not be troublesome."

Temari took him to the hotel, got him to his room, and made sure he was fast asleep before going off to find his teammates, they probably knew what he liked best, and that would probably make his day.

* * *

The week slowly drug by, after Temari learned that Shikamaru's favorite thing to do was sleep, she went to his room, wrote a note saying "Here's the rest of our day, enjoy your sleep." And went off to enjoy herself. Shikamru thought it was awesome to find a girl that would let him sleep for a whole 24 hours, and decided that he should at least try to be interested. As for the rest of our group, they were bored out of their minds. Hidan had not made another move since Gaara called was starting to get a little , Naruto did made a bet. "If I say I give up, he'll be here."

"Why do you say that?" Hinata asked.

"Murphy's law, my dear, Murphy's law."

"Well, then I give up."

Suddenly an alarm sounded.

Naruto just smiled, "We should have given up days ago."

* * *

Gaara saw the red scythe-like blades dig into the dome of sand. This guy was becoming boring, each time it was the same attack. He knew that as the blade dug into the dome, Hidan was preparing a chakra-enhanced swing at the weakened area. It never happened._"That's new...what's he up to?"_ Gaara quickly prepared an eye of sand and sent it outside to check things out. The Fox blade had the scythe locked in its swing**, **never to hit its target.

"I'm sorry, the Kazekage is not available, can you leave a message?"

Before Hidan could say anything, much less attack, a seven tailed fox with two round weapons rammed him. "On time for once Axel, I'm impressed." (Axel is owned by Disney and Square Enix, not me. Unfortunatly.)

"**You're just jealous of my good looks."** Axel replied.

"Yeah, yeah. You can go."

Axel poofed away, just as Hidan stood up. "Do you f****** know f****** who I am, boy?"

"Yes, your Hidan, the follower of Jashin." The name "Jashin" was like a bad taste as Naruto spat it out. "But do you know who _I _am?"

"Why should f****** I care?"

Naruto smiled. In a flash he had rammed Hidan, knocking him off his feet. A second later, Hidan felt a dull pain on his cheek. There was a small trickle of blood. Naruto slapped Hidan's face. "Come on, up and at 'em."

Hidan's face twisted with rage and he started swinging his scythe blindly, hoping to land a blow on the arrogant boy.

Naruto laughed, "If you think you can hit me by doing that, you may just as well cut off your own head."

"Shut the f*** up you annoying son of a b****!"

"You asked a question, why you should care who I was, well, I have an answer for you.

Naruto smiled. "Fear of the Forest Technique: Fear of the Fox Blade no jutsu!" Naruto's sword glowed a brilliant white light, he smiled. "Stage one: Lightning." A bolt of electricity shot the scythe blade form Hidan's hand, "Stage two: Earth." Hidan's feet were caught in stone boots. "Stage three: Grass." Two vines wrapped around Hiadn's arms, immobilizing them. "Stage four: Water." Ice formed around Naruto's sword. He swung it, and it landed as a puddle at his feet and the base of the vines, then froze, reinforcing both the boots and the vines. "Stage five: Wind." Naruto's feet became surrounded by miniature tornadoes. Naruto looked straight at Hidan, "There's one way to kill an immortal like you, do you know what it is?"

Hidan started blankly at him, he had to be bluffing.

"Stage six: Fire." Naruto's blade was surrounded in flame. "Reduce them to ash."

Suddenly, Naruto was a blur, aided by the tornadoes at his feet, Naruto flew at a speed that would have impressed any of the Kitsune. It did not take long for those same tornadoes to spread the ashes far and wide. "That's why you should care who I am."

* * *

The other team was astonished. I take that back, they were beyond astonished. Suddenly, Hinata and Kyuubi sitting in lawn chairs didn't seem to weird. "I told you he had it handled." Hinata said, as she worked on her tan.

Asuma was in shock. Absolute shock. He was dead for three seconds before his heart started working again. He couldn't even say anything.

Shikamaru looked at the scene. "You woke me up to watch a light show? Troublesome. I'm going back to bed."

Ino and Chouji didn't hear him. They just stared on, as did two more unseen spectators.

* * *

A masked man paced back and forth as his partner stood, watching him with onyx eyes. "I can't believe it." the masked man said, "He _killed_ Hidan."

The other stood impassively, "He is Naruto Namikaze, you shouldn't expect any less."

"He's a sixteen year old boy, Itachi! He should even know the secret to killing a Jashin!"

"Kakuzu, you must relax, you won't live another day if you keep on worrying."

"Why do you say that? Are you conspiring against us?"

"No." Itachi replied, "We just have a date tomorrow."

Kakuzu looked completely confused, until he turned around. Hidan's ashes were hovering in the sky, forming letters. "Tonight, at the gate." They read.

"Naruto is expecting us." Itachi said.

* * *

It was dark. The cliffs of Suna always seemed to bring night faster than anywhere else. Naruto stood, with Kyuubi and Hinata, waiting for their prey. It was not long before Shikamaru joined them. "Tell me Shikamaru, was the message too obvious?"

"What message?"

"Then how did you...never mind."

It did not take long for the two enemy figures to make their appearance. They stared at each other in the darkness, waiting for someone to make a move. Finally, Naruto spoke, "Itachi, I feel sorry for you."

"Why?"

"Because, if our intelligence is right, Tobi is going to be your next partner."

Itachi slapped his forehead. "Oh, man. I completely forgot about him!"

"Did we come here to talk or to fight?" Kakuzu asked, suddenly five huge beasts appeared behind him.

Naurto smiled, "Kyuubi, Hinata, take Itachi. Shikamaru, you're with me. Team Fox! Let's show this guys how to fight."

They blured. Suddenly, Itachi found himself again dodging thousands of chakra beams as Hinata launched her Shugohakke Rokujuyon Sho. Kyuubi, also dodging the thousands of chakra beams, kicked at him from behind. Only to have poof into smoke. Kyuub suddenly felt cold steel being pressed against his neck. "I'm better than that."

* * *

Naruto fought three of the five great beasts. One was spewing fire, another water, a third one, lightning, the other two were keeping Shikamaru at bay. All the while, Kakuzu was using long tentacles to try and trip up the two fighters. He was unsuccessful each time.

Shikamaru was lazily jumping around the field, unfortunately a little too lazily. His foot landed right next to a tentacle. Shikamaru landed on the sandy ground with a muffled thud. The wind beast stood over him with an evil glare. Suddenly it was crushed by a huge stone. "One down," Naruto said, his blade covered in tiny pebbles, "Four to go."

The Earth beast saw what had happened, and attacked Naruto. Kakuzu cursed. The earth one always had a stronger resistant will than the others. Now he had risk giving one of his stronger ones to the strange boy, while it needed to be on Nartuo.

Naruto saw the hesitation. "Shikamaru! Now!"

The Nara's shadow lunged for the masked enemy. It caught him. Quickly, Shikamaru acted to grab a Kunai from his leg. There was none.

Kakuzu laughed. "Did you think I would carry around a bunch of Kunai. There not my kind of weapon, speaking of which."

The Water beast lunged for Shikamaru, causing him to break of the jutsu.

"Crud." Naruto whispered.

* * *

Itachi, Kyuubi, and Hinata were all locked in a Taijutsu battle. Both Kyuubi and Hinata were using the Kyuubiken while Itachi, ironically, was using the Uchiha's reflecting taijutsu (what's it called?) Each time someone almost hit him, he thanked heaven, all they needed was to shove the chakra out of their system to do damage. Unfortunately, two taijutsu users were hard to keep track of, and each time he tried to start a jutsu, they rushed him, forcing him to break it off. Again and again, he tried it, and each time the two stopped him from getting out of the taijutsu cycle.

He quickly launched a kick to Hinata's chin, sending her flying, and evening the fight a bit. Kyuubi jumped in the air and did a round house kick, landing with a chakra enhanced fist to the ground. The earth shook. Itachi suddenly wished he had kicked Kyuubi instead. Then he saw something. Kunai, a lot of kunai, heading toward him. Then Hinata's voice was heard, shouting the name of the jutsu. "Great Whirlwind of Kunai jutsu!" the Kunai that were coming at him, suddenly started orbiting Itachi at an amazing speed. They started getting closer. Itachi did the only thing he could do. He ran.

* * *

Kakuzu cursed, Itachi had abandoned him. Oh, well._"I guess I'll just have to take the credit for bringing in Kyuubi."_

* * *

Naruto suddenly had an idea. _"Kyuubi, how's your chakra?"_

"_**Is that a rhetorical question?"**_

"_I need a Flying Rasengan._"

"_**Wow...I'll see what I can do."**_

Naruto quickly stabbed the Fire beast's chest, paralyzing it. "Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru nodded, and tried it again. Kakuzu laughed, you think that'll stop me!?" He jumped over the shadow. Only to see a bright blue ball bounce of the ground in front of him. It exploded. The beasts quickly dissolved. Kakuzu was no more. Kyuubi came up panting.

"**Man, that's a lot of work. I'm actually going to have to sleep after that."**

"Itachi?" Naruto asked.

"**Escaped."**

Naruto pretended to curse. "We almost had him."

"**Don't worry, we'll get him next time."**

* * *

The next day, Team Fox and Team Ten waved good-bye to the Kazekage and his family. "Come again, Naruto." Gaara said.

"When I'm Hokage, we'll have plenty of meetings, ok?"

"Sounds good."

* * *

After Jasmine gave them a ride back to Konoha, The two teams went up to the Hokage tower. "Mission success, Hokage-sama." Naruto reported.

"That's wonderful, Asuma?"

"They were no problem at all, Hokage-sama." Asuma said.

"Wonderful." Sarutobi smiled, Tsunade sent him a glare. "You may go."

* * *

Somewhere, at the Ataksuki hideout, a blond man with nearly a thousand piercing on his face paced the floor. "Why did you abandon him Itachi?"

"I had no choice, and when I tried to go back, he was already dead."

The blond haired man cursed. "This Naruto is becoming a thorn in my side, but we cannot kill him without risking the Kyuubi." he paused. "What do you think, Itahci?"

"Naruto is a formidable foe, he is very strong, and very influential in Konoha."

The blond sighed. "Tobi, get in here."

A black haired man with a strange orange mask came in. "Tobi is a good boy."

"Meet your new partner, Tobi."

"Where is he, leader-sama, all I see is Itachi-san."

Both the leader and Itachi sweatdropped. "He is Itachi." The leader said.

"Ooh, yay!"

"Now go, both of you."

Two wooden doors closed behind them as they left. Tobi was walking with his new partner, about as happy as he could be, quietly squealing his delight. It did not take long for Itachi to crack. "Tobi! Shut up!" He activated his Sharingan and stared into the eye hole of the mask, only to meet a mirrored Sharingan eye. Tobi shook his head. And glared at the Uchiha. Then in a voice that sounded vaguely familiar, but unlike Tobi in every way he said. "Never, do that again Itachi."

Itachi stared back, shocked.

Tobi then turned and returned to his skipping and squealing.

Itachi stood in the hallway, shocked. Then suddenly, he felt very afraid.

* * *

DUN, DUN, DUUUNNN! Next Chapter, Team Fox, and Team Gai.

Naruto: WHAT!? Your putting us with those freaky, tights-wearing, youth-talking wierdos!?

"Yeah, uh, can I talk to you for a sec?"


	14. Chapter 14

I don't own Naruto...What a shame...

* * *

"Team Fox," The Hokage began, "I have some good news for only have one more mission with another team."

Naruto looked like he might throw a party.

"Bad news, It's team Gai."

Naruto looked like he would cry.

"Lucky news, It's an Easy mission."

"**I've heard that before." **Kyuubi muttered.

Tsunade shot him a glare before continuing. "This mission requires you to go to Kusagakure, the 'powerful' hidden village in the grass,-."

"But I thought it wasn't a powerful hidden village." Naruto said.

"**You should have learned by now to stop interrupting." **

Tsunade gave Kyuubi a gracious sigh, approving of his scolding to Naruto, then continued. "While it is not a powerful hidden village, they relentlessly demand the honor of being called so, we have decided to agree to this claim. However, before we do, we have to Inspect their ninja academies, and barracks and such."

"You want us to spy on them?" Hinata asked.

"No, this is a completely legitimate effort to help them. They need it."

"Then why are you sending us?" Naruto asked, "I'm sure you can find a more-than-eager genin team to take this mission."

"Actually I already have, you are to be their escort."

"**Escort?" **Kyuubi asked.

"Allow me to explain. For some unknown reason, the road to and from Kusa has gotten increasingly more dangerous."

"So you're sending two teams of at least Chunin level ninjas to protect them? Seems like a waste of man power." Hinata said.

"Well, it's a little more complicated than that."

"Oh, boy here we go." Naruto began.

"We sent some ANBU after the last ambush and they found evidence of chunin-level ninjutsus, genjutsus, and weapons, and a lot of them."

"So basically, you _think_ that there _possibly _be a threat to these genin?"

"Yes."

"I'm out."

"What?"

"With all due respect, Tsunade-sama, it's a waste of our abilities, even if you're just testing our ability to work with other teams, it's a waste."

Tsunade looked at him very hard, and very long. Finally she said, "I thought you might say that, which is why I made sure that the team I hired for this mission is team 22..."

"_22...why does that sound familiar...?"_

"Or better known as..."

"_Oh no, it can't be..."_

"Team Konohamaru."

Silence.

"I hate you, Tsunade-sama..."

* * *

Naruto was walking along with team Gai and team Konohamaru, half-heartedly enjoying watching Konohamaru trying to impress the not-to-easily-impressed Neji. Hinata was enjoying Naruto's company, but not so much that of the blue and green beasts of Konoha.

"Lee! My youthful student! Behold the youthful love of Hinata-sama and Naruto-san."

"I see it my sensei! It is sooooo Youthful!"

"It has inspired me to run ten thousand laps around Konoha when we get back!"

Neji and Tenten were deeply ashamed by their conduct.

* * *

It was not long before the three teams made it to grass country. They found it to be a very relaxing plain country. It stretched for miles, with forests, and mountains in the distance. As they were walking along, many of the villagers were staring at Naruto, thinking that they didn't notice. Then they whispered in others ears, and news began to spread.

"Hey boss," Konohamaru asked.

"Yeah Konohamaru?"

"Why are all these people staring at us?"

"Simple, my dad."

"Huh?"

Naruto looked over to Hinata, who was snuggled in the crook of his arm. "Do you want to tell him?"

"Not really, I've had enough of history for a while." she responded.

"What about you Kyu?"

"**Rather not. Brings up too many memories." **he said.

"If you'll allow me, Naruto-san." Naji began.

"Knock yourself out, Neji."

Neji cleared his throat. "The Grass country shares borders with Earth, Fire, Rain and Waterfall country. Because the country lies between Earth and Fire, it has been in invaded by the Earth Country during previous ninja wars. To avoid Earth gaining a foothold next to the Fire Country border, many Leaf ninjas came to Hidden Grass's aid during the Second shinobi war. This resulted in many skirmishes taking place within its borders. During that war, Yondaime Hokage, Naruto-san's father attacked and killed many Iwa nins. Yondaime had two famous jutsu, the Rasengan, and the Hiraishin no jutsu, for which he received his nickname, Konoha's yellow flash, these jutsus were greatly feared by the Iwa nins and Yondaime became a hero of the war. So it is most likely possible that they are gawking at Naruto's likeness to his father."

Naruto clapped. "Excellent deduction, Neji, couldn't have said it better myself." Naruto said, before continuing, "Actually, I could have, but I'm too lazy to be rude."

Kyuubi spoke. **"Look, up ahead."**

They looked and saw nothing, grassland streached for miles around, leaving nothing for protection.

"I guess this is where they get ambushed." Konhamaru said.

The rest of his team shot him a glare. "No, duh, genius." Moegi said.

* * *

So they started of into the plain, watching their backs, and sides for any sign of a possible ambush. It wasn't long before team Gai started feeling uneasy. The Genins and team Fox held no such feeling. The Genins were too excited to care, and Team Fox was confident in their abilities.

Hinata activated her Byakugan. "Three meters to the left, two to the left, six behind, and one of them is behind that rock." She said, inconspicuously pointing to the rock ahead.

"Thank you, my angle." Naruto said before whispering to the other teams, Neji, you and Hinata take the back, Tenten, up front with the genin and Ebisu, Gai, the left, Lee, the right. I'll take any that try to escape."

Everyone one nodded in agreement. They walked closer to the rock, remaining as calm as possible. When suddenly, a ninja jumped in front of them, "Hold it right there!"

Suddenly the three other nins made themselves known. Each one had a Kumo headband. However, the symbol on his/her headband was crossed out, revealing themselves to be missing nin.

"Very interesting..." Naruto said before yelling at the top of his lungs, "Attack!"

The group broke, Neji and Hinata both rushed to the back and engaged a kunoichi in a deadly taijutusu match. Lee went off to the right and began to seriously beat that one, as did Gai of the left. The one from the front suddenly found himself staring at a very angry kunoichi with a very big sword in front of her. Not to mention the genin, and their sensei. When he saw his men hit the ground he decided it would be a good idea to retreat. He turned, just in time to have a foot smack his face. Naruto had come up behind him, just in case he decided to retreat, and kicked him hard. The poor man was sent flying over the whole party and landed in the dust, just to see two Hyuuga with deadly, Byakugan glares. He began running for his life.

Naruto walked up beside Neji and Hinata. "Don't touch him, I want to try something." Everyone watched the man run, waiting for what Naruto was going to do. Suddenly it happened.

Naruto disappeared in a yellow flash.

* * *

The ex-kumo nin ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Suddenly there he was kicked in the jaw and sent flying upwards. He landed again, but not before Naruto made four clones of himself. "Na!" The first one said, kicking the victim in the face.

"Mi!" The second on cried, landing his own kick.

"Ka!" The third one, kicking also.

"Ze!" The forth one cried, his kick sent the missing nin into the air.

"Naruto!" Naruto cried, Rasengan in hand. The helpless victim cried, unable to do anything, as the glowing blue orb approached him. "Rasengan Redan!" The bright blue ball came smashing down on the man, and sent him to the ground.

Naruto landed with grace as his clones puffed from existence, and headed back to the opened-mouth, eyes-wide, shocked-into-a-stupor teams.

Naruto walked passed them, "Come on, we have an appointment to keep up."

"Boss..." Konohamaru began, "HOW DID YOU DO THAT!?!?"

Naruto turned, smiled and said, "Namikaze, family secret."

* * *

The rest of the trip was uneventful. Hinata eventually became so bored she pulled out a tiny metal tube and began to tinker with it. Kyuubi decide it was time for some excersice and began running in the field as a good-sized fox. Tenten began sharpening a kunai. Ebisu secretly took out a small orange book and fell to the back of the party. Neji thought it was a wise idea to do so, seeing as how if Tenten saw that book, she'd kill him. Lee and Gai, being rather... enthusiastic, began a small contest to see which one could run around the group the fastest. Gai won, and when Lee came to claim second, Gai said he could not.

"Why not Gai-sensei?"

"Because, Kyuubi was right behind when I won!"

"NOOO!"

They finally made it to Kusagakure, where the "Kusakage" as he tried to be called, met them. "Welcome, welcome, I hope your journey was safe."

"Perfectly." Naruto said.

"That's wonderful news." He said.

"Yes it is, anyway, I have three Genin, here that will check out everything, and see if it passes inspection."

"Why do they need to inspect?"

"Quite simply, to be sure you can for example, hold the Chunin exams here, or for instance hold off an invasion, the usual."

"Aah..."

"Not to mention the plague, famine, natural disasters,-."

"Thank you, very much." The Kusakage said, interrupting Naruto's demoralizing speech. "While you are here, is there anything I can do for you?"

"Well, it will probably take them a couple of days to get the whole village inspected, so we'll need some hotel rooms, some food, you know, the essentials."

"Of course, anything else?"

"We'll let you know."

* * *

Later that night, in Hinata's and Naruto's room. "At least they gave us separate beds." Naruto remarked, remembering how they promised to wait for marriage.

"Hm." Hinata replied, hunched over a desk.

"So, how is it coming?" Naruto asked.

"It still needs some tweaking," she said as she picked up a small metal tube, glaring at it with her Byakugan. "But, it'll work."

"That's good news."

"Hm."

They sat in silence for a while. Then Hinata finally turned. "Hey, honey?"

"What?"

"How did you do that earlier today?"

"I thought you knew how the Hiraishin no jutsu worked."

"I do, through seals on those three pronged kunai, but you didn't have any of those on you, so how?"

"Well, you remember the time I kicked him and he landed in front of you and Neji?"

"Yeah."

"Well, right before I kicked him I began to write the seal on my hand, when I came up to kick him, I put my hand on his sandal right before I made contact, so that the seal would allow me to teleport over to him."

"Is that what you were testing?"

"No, I was testing to see if I could use the jutsu."

"Ah."

"And what's especially cool about that seal is that it fades after three minutes from its use, leaving no proof for anyone to follow."

"That's cool," she said.

"Well, it's late, I'm going to bed."

"Ok, I better get some sleep too."

"I'll change out here, you can take the restroom."

"Thank you."

They changed into their nightwear, kissed goodnight, then went to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, the Genin were studying several possible chunin exam arenas, and were almost ready to report in. "You got the notes, Udon?" Konohamaru asked.

"Of course."

"Excellent, now let's get back to the hotel."

They were walking along, enjoying the Grass' countryside. It was very peacful. Peaceful enough for Konohamaru and Moegi to let their guard down. A pair of yellow eyes watching them grew very happy. The team walked along, oblivious to the danger that lurked so near to them.

Udon suddenly felt a presence, he kept quiet, probably nothing.

A shadow flew across the path behind them.

Udon suddenly felt uneasy.

Another shadow.

They kept walking.

The walked passed an empty alley, a missed the glint of the light on cold, black steel.

Udon felt it, someone slowly creeping up behind them, he had to act, he had to do something. He jumped. It was a good thing he did. A shuriken flew underneath him as he jumped into the air.

"Get them!" A monstrous voice said. Udon began to run, he ran and ran. He turned his head, just in time to see thee missing Iwa nins capture his teammates, they were accompanied by a plant-like creature.

* * *

Naruto was sitting in his room, watching the love of his life fixate on the small metal tube she had in front of her. Finally, after another critical Byakugan scan, she was satisfied. "I think it's done."

"Really?"

"Up, all I have to do now is test it."

"Wonderful, I can't wait, one day it's going to be a Namikaze clan relic, and-."

The door shook under an urgent banging. Naruto opened the door. It was Udon, he was bended over, and panting, he had run the whole way there. "Udon, what is it?"

"Missing," Gasp, "Iwa nins," Pant, "Plant Person," Gasp, "Konohamaru, and Moegi."

Naruto picked him up and stared into his eyes. "Where?"

"Down...the...street...by...arena."

Naruto turned. "Hinata, call the other team, this is an emergency rescue mission. I'll leave tracks."

"Where are you going?"

"There are three things that nobody messes with, my food, my fiancé, and my friends, I'm going hunting."

* * *

Kyuubi was walking down a street, enjoying the view. When suddenly he recieved a mental message from his tenant._ "We're going hunting."_

"_**What?! Have you gone insane? Neither of us have any idea what that'll do to you! You could die!"**_

Kyuubi suddenly received a flash of memories of Udon, sweaty, panting, and a worried look in his eye, pleading for help.

"_They're our friends, Kyu. They need our help, and even if it kills me, then so be it."_

The memories were convincing. _**"Fine."**_

Kyuubi slowly faded from view.

Naruto felt him enter. _"Lets do this."_

He began to change. His Chakra levels jumped. He began to be covered in a red aura. He walked out side of the building, and was heading down the street. Out of the Aura, a tail formed. His fingernails had grown longer and sharper, until they were almost claws. The whisker marks on his face grew thicker. Then another tail. He kept walking. His eyes were red and he began to crouch. A third tail. Then the aura around began to get darker. Naruto red eyes became a sulfuric yellow. The aura suddenly clung to him, acting like a second skin. A fourth tail. He abandoned crouching for running on all fours. He grew a snout, fur, razor-sharp teeth. A fifth tail. Naruto and Kyuubi had become one.

* * *

Hinata nearly broke into the other teams' room. "The Genins have been captured!" Everyone jumped to their feet. "Naruto went after them, and I think he's done something drastic." The teams gathered their equipment. Naruto doing something drastic did not bode well.

* * *

They were following the scent. It was still fresh. Find them, save them, and kill anybody who is trying to stop them. They clawed the ground, leaving a mark, easy enough to follow.

* * *

Team Gai and Hinata were jumped out of the building. "How do we know where they went?" Tenten asked.

"Naruto said he'd leave us tracks."

"What does that mean?" Lee asked.

"I think it means this." Neji said, pointing to the ground in front of him. The team gathered and at Neji's feet were four long ditches in the ground, as if scratched in there by some horrific animal.

"Oh no," Hinata said, "He _did_ do something drastic."

* * *

Zetsu watched his prisoners. Bite-sized portions, nothing more. Why the Kyuubi child had any interest in them he didn't know, but it was a weakness to be exploited. And so he did. Picking these two morons off the street was child's all he needed to do was wait. Suddenly one of his hired minions came in. "Boss. We have a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

_Boom._ The whole building shook.

"That kind."

* * *

Team Gai was running down the street, following the scratch marks that Naruto left. He was so far ahead of them. "Guys, left." Neji cried, he had activated his Byakugan so he could spot any more scratch marks. They turned left into a field.

* * *

"What is that?" Zetsu asked,

"I don't know. But it broke through our defenses."

"What? How could it break through those defenses? Those are specifically designed to kill someone."

_Boom._ The building shook again, knocking over a table in the room.

The Iwa nin's eyes went wide, "He's broken the second door."

_Boom. _The third door fell before a dark red fox creature with yellow eyes. **"You sssshall die." **it hissed.

Zetzu decide he should blend into the background and get out of there, but not before the creature slammed his paw against his chest. Once on the ground, Zetsu disappeared. The creature turned to the trapped Iwa missing nin. **"You took them."**

The ninja paled, "No, no I didn't, it was my friends, I'm innocent." The creature continued to approach. "Honestly, it wasn't me. No, please, don't..."

* * *

Team Gai arrived at the building, and found it completely trashed. Walls were shattered, leaving spider-web cracks that ran along the walls entire length. Rubble and debris was everywhere, crowding the hallway with dust and dirt. There were three doors, each one was nothing but splinters now. Along the hall were holes for some form of trap. They appeared to be useless against the might of the Naruto that now was. The team walked down the hallway to a small room, it seemed to take the least damage, and in the corner were two frightened Genins, Konohamaru, and Moegi. At the sight of the team. The children instantly ran to their arms, seeking shelter. "It was so scary, Hinata-sama!"

Hinata bent down, "Sh, sh, It's ok, it's ok." She noticed something in the corner. "Neji, take them back to the hotel room."

He nodded and took them out. "Neji-san, where's Naruto?" Konohmaru asked.

"I don't know, Konohamaru, I don't know."

* * *

Zetsu came out of the ground into a nearby plain. The wound in the chest that thing gave him had weakened him from going all the way back to headquarters. He smiled, he had cheated death yet again. _"That thing will never find me."_ Suddenly there was a light behind him, and before Zetsu could even blink, he felt the skin on his neck rip. Zetsu fell to the ground, dead. His throat slit by four, razor-sharp claws.

* * *

Hinata did not wait long. There was suddenly a dark red flash and before her stood a five-tailed beast. She sighed, "Naruto, if you die on me, I'm going to be really mad at you."

The beast turned, saw her then said, in a dark, twisted voice it said, **"I'm ssssorry, Hinata, but they are my friendsssss."**

"I know."

They stood there in silence, before Naruto said in a quiet voice, **"Let'sssss sssssee if there are any ssssside-effectsss to thissss."**

His dark red fur faded, As did the snout, the tails, the aura. It all faded away. Naruto stood for a brief second, then fell forward, out cold.

* * *

Three days later, Naruto stirred. "Oh, what happened?"

"You fainted after using that stupid technique." A familiar voice said.

Naruto opened his eyes, and immediately shut them. The light in the room was too bright. He tried again and this time was successful at keeping his eyes open. He looked around, he was in a hospital bed. He opened his mouth to say something.

"Konoha." She answered the unspoken question.

He opened his mouth again, and was able to get two words out before she harshly answered him "Are you -?"

"Mad? Yes."

Naruto hung his head.

"But I can't stay mad at you, no matter how hard I try."

Naruto looked up.

"Besides, you're getting punished enough."

Naruto looked up at her, with a confused look on his face. Suddenly, Kyuubi's voice echoed in his head. _**"Kit, apparently there are some side-effects. I have**_ _**no idea how long these will last. But..."**_

Naruto ran to a mirror. A scream echoed in the hospital. On Naruto's Head were two fox-ears. His human ones were gone and had been replaced by the fox ones that stood on his head.

"You also have a tail." Hinata said.

Naruto turned around, and barely saw the white tip of his new-found turned again, the same result. Hinata laughed, it looked like Naruto was chasing his tail.

He looked at her. "This isn't funny. Who knows what other side-effects there are?

"_**On the bright side you have very sensitive hearing." **_

"_Not now, Kyu."_

"Come on, it's not that bad." Hinata said.

"Not that bad? Who knows what this will do to our family? All of our kids could have Fox ears!"

"Then the second generation of the Namikaze clan will be known for their hearing abilities."

"But..."

"No buts."

"But..."

"What did I just say?"

Naruto sighed, signaling his surrender.

Hinata smiled, "Come on, let's go home."

* * *

And so, another chapter comes to a close. I hope you enjoyed it.

Naruto: "Hey! The fox parts were not part of the deal!"

Real Author: "Don't worry, It's for the better, and it will only last a year or so."

Naruto: "A YEAR!?"

Real Author: "See ya next time!"


	15. Chapter 15

For my relative safety I make the following announcement.

I do not own Naruto.

* * *

The Yamanaka flower shop's bell rung, signaling the entrance of a customer. "I'll be right there!" Ino called form the back. They had just got a shipment of purple petunias. She carefully laid down a large crate full of the delicate flowers and headed out to the front. There stood a man in a white coat, hood up so that it covered his head. The Kanji fox was on his back. "Hey Naruto." Ino said, recognizing the coat.

"Hey Ino." He said, turning so that his smiling face met her eyes. "Guess what day today is." He said.

Ino looked at the calendar, nothing too significant about today, except their petunia shipment. "I don't know. Two days after Christmas?"

"Oh, so very close." He said, a smile playing on his lips.

"Ok, what is it?" Ino asked, "You know something what is it?"

Naruto kept smiling, and kept silent, wanting to know how long it'd take her before she blew a gasket.

"Naruto..." she said gently.

He kept smiling.

"Naruto," sterner this time.

Nothing but a smile.

"Naruto." She said, slightly angry.

Naruto's lips didn't move.

"NARUTO!" She exploded like a volcano.

"It's Hinata's birthday." Naruto said simply.

"Huh?" She asked, taken off-guard by the simple statement. Suddenly it registered in her mind. "Really?"

"Yes, really."

"I can't believe I missed that." she said, realizing that the answer was so plain.

"I can, now I need twelve white roses. And twelve lilies."

"What kind of lilies?"

"There are kinds?" Naruto asked.

Ino looked shocked, "What do you mean there are kinds?"

"I wasn't aware that there was any other kind of lily than lilies."

Ino sighed, "Follow me." She led him to the back room and sat him down, "You're getting a crash-course in florist-ry." She pulled down a projector screen and walked to the back of the room where a projector sat. She pulled out two different boxes, each one containing several slides. "You have a notebook on you?"

"Uh, no. I wan's expecting a lesson."

"How goods your memory?" She asked holding a slide to the light.

"Sufficient."

"Hm. It will do." She hit the lights. "As you know, flowers have meanings." Up on the screen appeared a delicate-looking flower. "Each type of flower has a different meaning, example, the Calla lily means 'Majestic beauty', while the orange lily means 'Hatred and disdain, wealth, or pride.'"

"I see, well I'll need to make a note not to get her orange lilies."

"I'm not done yet!" Ino said indignantly, "Day lilies mean 'Coquetry'"-

"What now?"

"Coquetry. It means flirt-y."

"Ah."

"While white lilies mean 'Majesty, purity, and virginity.' Then there is the Lily-of-the-valley, they mean 'Purity, humility, and sweetness'"

"Those ones, I want six of those and six white ones."

"Who said I was done?"

"Sorry."

"Now we have roses."

"Oh, boy."

"I'll give you the low down. Bridal Rose: Happy Love, Carolina Rose: Love Is Dangerous, Christmas Rose: Peace and Tranquility, Coral or an Orange Rose: Enthusiasm, Desire, Dark Pink Rose: Thank you, Light Pink Rose: Admiration, Musk Rose: Capricious Beauty, Pale Rose: Friendship." She took a breath. "Peach Rose: Let's get together, Closing of the deal, Pink Rose: Love, Grace, Gentility, You're so Lovely, Perfect Happiness, Please believe me, Pink & White Roses: I love you still and always will." Another breath. "Red Rose: Love, Desire, Respect, Courage, Job well done, Red & Yellow Rose: Congratulations, White Rose: Charm, Secrecy, Silence, You're Heavenly, Reverence, Humility, Youthfulness and Innocence Rose, White on Red: Unity/Flower Emblem of England, Yellow Rose: Infidelity, Joy, Gladness, Friendship, Jealousy, Welcome Back, Remember me, Yellow & Orange Rose: Passionate thoughts." She took a deep breath.

Naruto waited for her to go on, when she didn't he asked "Is that all?"

"Yeah, I think."

"Okay then, I'd like to make my order."

"Of course. Six lily-of-the-valleys, six white lilies and twelve..."

"Pink and white roses."

"Of course." She took out a small notebook, jotted the order down, "If you'll please wait in the front."

Naruto nodded then headed out into the foyer. He found a chair and seated himself until Ino would come back, he did not have to wait long. In less than a minute, Ino came out holing a bouquet of pink and white flowers. "Here you go. Normally I make you pay full price, but I'll give you a discount, it's not every day that a good friend of mine has her birthday."

"Thanks Ino." He paid and headed for the door. When he opened it, a gust of wind charged through the door, blowing Naruto's hood off his head.

Ino gasped.

Fox ears.

Standing right on top of Naruto's head.

Quickly, Naruto pulled his hood back over his head. He turned to Ino. A hint of raising panic visible in his eyes. "You didn't see anything."

Before Ino could say anything, Naruto was out the door.

Naruto sighed, all his life he seemed to walk a lonely path. He had walked around with the ears on his head for a couple of days, but people began to look at him funny. He even saw the familiar glare of hatred in a couple of eyes. Why? What had he done to them? Sure Kyuubi attacked Konoha, but not on his free will. _"Even if he did, why am _I_ hated so much? What have I done to deserve this?"_

So, when things began to heat up, Naruto made a hood for his coat. He could blame it on the cold for a couple of months, but what if his ears lasted longer than that? _"Well, I'll come to that bridge when I cross it, but now, I have a Hime to pamper."_

* * *

Hinata took a swig of water from a small water bottle. She was training. She had begun by beating a training dummy to a pulp, then she ran through her ninjutsus once or twice. In fact, she had finally perfected the Vortex Punch jutsu. Now it was time for her invention. _"I still have to come up with a name for it."_ She thought. She pulled the silver tube from her kunai holster ad aimed at a training dummy. Suddenly she swung the eight-inch tube as if it were a sword. The tube's end seemed to break off, it flew for the dummy, connected to the end Hinata held by a zip-line. It quickly wrapped around its target. Hinata pulled back, and the line tightened around the helpless victim. Hinata then pushed a tiny silver button on the side of the tube. The effect was instantaneous. A bolt of electricity ran down the length of the zip-line, and landed the target a serious blow. If it were a normal person, he (or she) would be unconscious, or worse.

She hit another button and the zip line retracted, pulling the dummy with it. _"Haven't thought about that." _She thought, dragging the body along the line wasn't necessarily a good or a bad thing. It was good in the fact that it would make capturing enemies easier, it was bad in the fact that it took too long for her to reload it.

When the line was finished retracting, she untangled the smoking piece of aimed at one of said cloth's brothers. This time, however, she shot up, towards the ceiling. Instead of the tip simply breaking off, it grew a claw-like appendage which dug into the wood. She held on and swung on the line, successfully kicking the mannequin in the head. Then again she retracted the line, after pushing a third button to release the claw. Then she pushed a fourth button, the tube's ends grew until it was just a head shorter than she was, making a powerful Bo Staff. She pushed the button again and the tube shrunk to its original size. _"Now we both have something, Naruto the Hiraishin no jutsu, Kyuubi has his biju powers, and I have this._"

She stared at the silver tube. "The Fox Tube." she whispered. It was a fitting name, especially for a clan that revolved around foxes.

Suddenly Naruto burst into the room, his hands behind his back. "Happy Birthday, princess of the skies." He kissed her and then pulled out the bouquet from behind his back.

"Oh, Naruto they're beautiful."

"I had hoped they would be, or Ino's lesson would have been useless."

"Huh?"

"Nevermind." Suddenly he picked her up. "As for you, you are not to do anything for the rest of the day."

He brought her into the living room, laid her on the bed, and made two kage bunshin. "We are here to serve you, Hinata-Hime."

She laughed. "Naruto, you do this every year, and"-

"And it's the least I can do."

One of the kage bunshisn took off her shoes and began to massage her feet. The other one came up to her, "Can I take your order madam?"

She laughed again. Then surrendered to Naruto's pampering, "Three cinnamon rolls, a small bowl of ramen, and a glass of soda, Please."

"Of course," he said, before walking to the kitchen.

The real Naruto sat next to her face and played with her hair. "So what did you do while I was gone?"

"Nothing much, I did a little training. I also tested and named the Fox Tube," she said, pulling it out for him to see.

"And does it work?"

"Yes."

"That's wonderful."

The waiter shadow clone came up. "Lunch is served."

Naruto picked up the chopsticks to the ramen and began to feed Hinata.

"Naruto, you don't have to feed me."

"I want to. Will you please let me?"

She looked lovingly at him, then opened her mouth to receive the noodles.

"Thank you." He said, as he carefully led the noodles into her mouth.

Each mouthful was followed by a kiss.

They continued until the food was finished. Then Naruto snuggled up with her. "I love you, my princess."

"I love you too, my prince." She reached underneath his hood and scratched the back of his ear. She had discovered not too long ago that the back of Naruto's ear were very sensitive, and when they were scratched, it was as if heaven had come to him.

He moaned with the pleasure that followed.

"I love you so much."

* * *

Kyuubi was never a sap for romance. That's why he never stayed with the Kits on Hinata's birthday. Or at least that's what they thought. The real reason was no where close to what they thought. He missed his mate. He missed his kits. True, Naruto and Hinata had become the closest thing to family he had, but, the memories of his first love still haunted him. It was only sixteen years ago. And while a human can get over someone's death in that amount of time, sixteen years is a very short time for a biju.

He sat on top of the Hokage monument, overlooking the city, it was nearly sundown.

He sighed. He could see her face. Her cute little black nose, her amazingly beautiful orange fur. She was definitely fitting of her name, Kajin (beauty). Even when she walked the earth as a human, she was beautiful. Her long, midnight-black hair that came down to her back, her fiery green eyes. She had a spirit of a warrior.

He sighed. The hole she left was too large to refill.

A puff of smoke appeared behind him. Jasmine stood, in human form, behind him. **"Kyuubi-sama, are you feeling ok?**"

He sighed. Probably Naurto wanting to check up on him. **"Tell Naruto I'm fine."**

She looked to the ground, **"Actually, I'm here on my own will."**

He looked at her.

"**I..." **She wondered if it was best to continue. **"I know why you promoted me. It's because Kajin..."** again she hesitated, but she was committed now, **"and I was worried about you, ever since Naruto-sama and Hianta-sama got together, you spent Hinata's birthday's alone."**

"**Your point?"** Kyuubi said, anger in his voice.

"**I...it's just that I...I was hoping to keep you from being to alone?"** she said, as if it were a question.

"**So what? You're going to sit with me?"** Kyuubi said, half angrily.

"**May I?"**

"**No, you can't!"** Kyuubi yelled. **"What made you think I would let you sit with me? I want to be alone! Can't a Fox mourn the death of his family in peace!?"**

Jasmine stood in silence, head bowed, eyes to the ground.

Kyuubi sat back on the ledge with a **"Humf." **

Jasmine looked up at him for a brief second. **"If...If it's any condolence, my family died also."**

"**Why would I want to hear another sob story? I have one myself. Leave." **

Jasmine turned, tears in her eyes. And disappeared in a puff of smoke.

* * *

In a dimension not too different form our own, a woman walked into her house, ran into her bedroom, and began to cry. She had long, blond hair and two deep blue eyes that had gotten more men lost in them than than there were grains of sand on the shore. Now they were red from crying. This was Jasmine, at home in Kitsunegakure, the village hidden in the Fox. _**"I just wanted to cheer him up."**_That night she cried herself to sleep.

* * *

Kyuubi walked into the Namikaze mansion, guilt bearing down on him. _**"You didn't have to yell at her."**_ his conscious said.

"_**I know."**_

"_**She just wanted to sit with you."**_

"_**I know."**_

"_**You didn't have to push her away."**_

"_**I know."**_

"_**You should apologize."**_

"_**I know."**_

"_**Then why don't you?"**_

The question stopped him cold. Why didn't he apologize? It's not like anything hung in the balance. Then why not? _**"I'm letting her cool down, I acted like a jerk, she's probably mad at me and wouldn't listen to his apology. I'll apologize later." **_

"_**That's not it."**_

"_**Yes it is."**_

"_**No. It's not."**_

He couldn't argue. That wasn't the reason why.

"_**Then why? Are you embarrassed?"**_

Embarrassed wasn't the word. Ashamed, maybe, but not embarrassed.

"_**Why would you be ashamed?"**_

Because he belittled the death of her family to a sob story. If someone other than him had done so to his story, he would kill the man.

Kyuubi walked into the living room to see the two kits asleep on the couch, holding each other. So much love.

"_**Love is pain to some."**_ he thought, thinking of a small boy from the village of the hidden rain.

He thought no more about it and headed to his room.

* * *

Naruto woke, laying beside his angel. He kissed her again, and headed down stairs, his shadow clones left his back in knots, he needed a hot bath. He went down stairs to his family's artificial hot springs. He undressed and gladly welcomed the soothing heat that came when he lowered his naked body into the water. He sat, watching his tail move through the water, happy to see that the fur he had there was thick enough for it to keep from showing the flesh of the tail.

His ear twitched. He turned and saw Hinata, she wore a towel around her waist and a pink bikini top.

Two things jumped through Naruto's mind. One, she was beautiful, two, he was naked.

She removed the towel and eased into the water. Naruto shifted to the other end of the pool.

"You know, the whole day you have done nothing but pamper me, and I haven't said 'thank you' yet."

Naruto was slightly panicking, trying of a way to figure out how to get out of this mess.

She approached him.

He retreated to the left.

She approached him again.

He retreated again.

She approached him again, smiling.

He retreated again, only to bump into something on his left.

Naruto looked left, Hinata, smiling. He looked right, Hinata smiling.

"_Darn her shadow clones."_ He thought as he slowly sank into the water.

Both Hinata's stared at his ears, which just stood above the surface, with mischievous grins on their faces.

"Now?" One asked.

"Wait." The other responded. "Now!"

They both dove into the water, trying to get a hold on their slippery prey. Finally they caught him. They pulled him to the surface. One of them puffed away, leaving Hinata sitting in front of him. "As I was saying. Thank you." She gave him a long and passionate kiss.

A cough sounded behind them.

They turned to see Kyuubi standing in front of the spring's door. **"Sorry to interrupt your sappy romance moment, by I have a bathing suit for Naruto."**

"Sappy?" Hinata asked indignantly.

While Naruto began reaching for the trunks. "Thanks Kyu."

* * *

There you go. One fluffy chapter.

Merry Christmas (whenever it finally gets here)


	16. Chapter 16

Sorry this took me awhile, but between a book report, winter break, and finals, I was just to lazy.

Please shoot me later.

Naruto is not mine, not by a long shot.

* * *

Tsundae rubbed her aching head. Things were not going well to say the least. There had been three "attacks" in two days. She couldn't believe they hadn't caught them yet. These guys were as arrogant as they could be; they practically signed their names wherever they attacked. They were called the sound four.

Tsunade sighed. Apparently, her former teammate had some cronies that weren't too happy. It was ridiculous; she had sent everyone after these guys, well, almost everyone. There was one more team she could try.

She snapped her fingers, and an ANBU captain appeared in front of her. "Get me Team Fox." She ordered.

The ANBU nodded then left.

* * *

Team Fox entered the Hokage's office. They each came prepared for a mission. Naruto was wearing his hood to hide his ears, but his gear remained the same. Hinata wore the same gear as before with the exception of a small silver tube that was stuck in her vest's pocket. Kyuubi wore the same as he always did, black shirt and pants with a red vest. He looked slightly downtrodden.

"Good morning, Tsunade-sama," Naruto said.

Tsunade looked at the clock hanging on the wall, "Good afternoon,"

"His alarm clock didn't sound this morning." Hinata said, explaining Naruto's choice of greeting.

Tsunade nodded. "I see. But on another matter, you have probably guessed, I have a mission for you." She looked up at the three eager ninjas. "Have you ever heard of the sound four?"

"No, I don't think so." Hinata answered.

"**Not really."** Kyuubi said.

"Wasn't it a rock band?" Naruto asked.

"The sound four is what's left of Orochimaru's ninja forces."

"Ah." The team said in unison.

"And to put it simply, they're a bunch of sore losers."

"So I take it they've been attacking Konoha?" Naruto said.

"Yes, they've made three attacks in two days time."

"I see. Why have you chosen us, though?" Naruto asked.

"Because every other team I sent failed to catch them."

"Hm. Well if you will give my team a second to discuss this."

"Of course."

Naruto called a huddle and the hushed voices of his teammates was all the Hokage heard. Then they broke and Naruto stepped up to the Hokage's desk. "We'll do it, but we'll need a report on all of the hit locations until now."

"I will get it to you as soon as possible." Tsunade said.

"Just deliver to the Namikaze mansion; I'll have a shadow clone waiting."

"Will do, and good luck."

* * *

After receiving the dossier, the team started using the information to find the next possible target. The first day they had attacked the north side of the Uchiha compound. The second day the attacked the south side of the compound and they attacked a small street that Naruto recognized as the street with Sakura's house on it.

"Well, it seems obvious that they want a shot at Sasuke, after who is at the Uchiha compound other than him?" Naruto said."The only thing that baffles me is why they went to that street."

"It looks like we have to pay Sasuke a visit then." Hinata said.

Naruto agreed and they started for Sasuke's house. When they arrived they smelled the scent of baking snicker doodles. Naruto knocked on the door. The door opened and Naruto stepped inside. "Never thought you were the baking type, Sasuke." He said as he pushed pass Sasuke.

Sasuke steadied himself against the wall as Naruto came by "Please come in." He said with enough sarcasm in his voice to fill a bucket. He began to close the door.

"I think we will." Hinata said, her foot suddenly in the doorway.

Sasuke looked back surprised, and then quickly re-opened the door, "Sorry."

As soon as Hinata and Kyuubi entered, Sasuke closed the door, "So I'm assuming you're here about the attacks made on the compound."

"Yes, that's why we're here."

"Well, shouldn't you be investigating the areas they crashed in on?"

"No, we know why they came here, what we want to know, is what they were doing near Sakura's house."

Sasuke jumped. "What? Sakura? I she alright?"

"Sit down love bird," Hinata said, "she's fine."

"Love bird?" Sasuke said indignantly.

Hinata simply stared at him with a knowing glare.

"Anyway." Naruto began, "We gathered from the fact that they attacked the compound twice that they want you, so why would they go to Sakura's street?"

There was silence for a second or two, and then Sasuke said, "Well, would you believe I needed a cup of sugar?"

The team looked at each other.

"I found my mom's cookbook, and she used to make the greatest snicker doodles, so I tried to make some. Halfway through the recipe, I found out I didn't have enough sugar. So I ran to the closest person who would for sure let me borrow some. They must have seen me…Oh, if anybody got hurt I'll never forgive myself."

"Hey, relax, ok? Nobody was hurt." Naruto said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, we got a full report on all their attacks." Hinata answered.

"Anyway, one more question, we need to know when they have been attacking." Naruto said.

"It's always just after sundown."

"Alright." Naruto turned, "Oh one more thing, we're going to need your help."

* * *

Sundown.

"_How melodramatic."_Sasuke thought as he stood in the center of the Uchiha compound, _"And so cliché, at that."_

A soft breeze blew by, rustling some leaves nearby.

"Hello, Sasuke." A voice said behind him.

Sasuke turned without so much as batting an eyelid. "The sound four, I presume." Before him stood four figures, each wearing a grey tunic, on which was printed a pure white Yin-Yang.

"You presume correctly." One of them said, he was large and had an orange Mohawk hairstyle.

"'You presume correctly'?" Another one said, this one was a girl who had fiery red hair and a sheath-like object hanging from her belt. "What the F___!? That is the F___ing stupidest piece of S*** to ever crawl out of your F___ing mouth!"

"Ladies shouldn't use that kind of language." The large one said.

"Excuse me for interrupting your little dialogue here," Sasuke said, "But why are you here?"

"We are here for you." Another one said, he had a darker shade of skin and six arms.

"Well, sorry to tell you this, but I'm spoken for, you see there's this girl I like and-."

"Well aren't you the funny one?" The last one said, he looked normal for the most part, except for a large growth on his back that looked a lot like another head.

"Sakon, don't insult him, we do want him to accept our offer." The man with six arms said.

"Whatever, Kidoumaru, you just did that so you could suck up to the boss." Sakon said.

"Shut the F___ up! The both of you! What I did to deserve working with a bunch of S***heads like you, I'll never know." The redhead said.

"Tayuya, please stop using language like that."

"Shut up, fatA$$!" She retorted.

Sasuke cleared his throat. The four sound nins stopped their bickering and looked at him. "Your offer?"

"Ah, yes, Jiroubou?" Kidoumaru offered.

The large one stepped forward. "We are aware of your cursed seal."

"That sure is to the point."

"Yes. We, having seals like it, know that you can acquire a new stage in this seal and there are two ways to do it, the first is having it slowly integrate itself with you, however, when it does you will die, or you can take a drug that Orochimaru perfected, which will allow you to revive afterward."

"Hang on, let me get this straight, the only way to unlock the level two curse seal is to die?"

"Yes."

"And that's what Orochimaru told you?"

There was silence for a second. "Yes."

"Well, I don't know how to break it to you, but you've been screwed."

"What the F___ are you talking about?" Tayuya asked.

"Weeeelll, I unlocked it by training my butt off."

There was complete silence, Tayuya recovered first, "WHAT THE F___!? HE F___ING LIED TO US!? WE WORK OUR F___ING BUTTS OFF FOR HIM BECAUSE WE OWE HIM A FAVOR THAT NEVER F___ING EXISTED!?"

"Apparently." Sasuke said.

"And if you want to know the worst part," a voice said, suddenly a yellow flash appeared behind Sasuke, "That seal was one of the easiest to remove."

**"You'd be wise to stay put."** Kyuubi said, appearing behind them suddenly.

"Trust us, it's for the best." Hinata said, A kunai in each hand.

"Sound four," Sasuke said, "I'd like you to meet some friends of mine, Team Fox."

"Hinata, can you give me the odds?" Naruto asked.

"A four on four battle, percentage of beating the snot out of them, 82%."

"Hm, well let me increase the odds, Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Suddenly four Naruto clones joined the original. "How are the odds now?"

"Somewhere in the 90s."

"That's good news."

"You think some clones are enough to stop us?" Sakon asked.

"No. I think some clones and the Hirashin no jutsu are enough." Suddenly all the clones disappeared in bright flashes of yellow light, then reappeared right in front of their targets heads. They ducked, and the clones missed, except one, mostly because Jiroubou was slower than a turtle. He dropped like a bag of rocks.

The others reacted instantly. Kidoumaru quickly created six golden daggers. Tayuya summoned her doki, and Sakon ran to face Sasuke in battle.

Sasuke met him head on, Sharingan blazing. Hinata went for Kidoumaru, Kyuubi as backup, while Naruto tried his luck with the doki and Tayuya.

* * *

Sasuke found a whole new challenge in his fight with Sakon, blocking more than two punches at a time was rather interesting, but easily overcome. After a few minutes, Sauske simply got bored. So he began to back Sakon to a training area he used often. Quickly, He pulled out three shuriken and threw them at his target. Sakon easily dodged them all. But then was suddenly pulled to a training pole but an unseen force.

"What?"

"Simple trip wires." Sauske said, "a Genin-level attack-method, something completely unexpected from a Jounin like myself."

Sakon glared at him.

"Now for the follow up Chunin-level attack. Ryuuka no jutsu!"

Suddenly the wires ignited and the flame raced toward the training pole and engulfed it in an inferno.

"How dare you!" a voice said.

Sasuke looked to the side of the burning pole, and saw something disturbing. He blinked several times; it looked exactly like Sakon, with the exception of the growth, which was no longer there.

"How dare you kill my brother!"

That explained a few things.

"Prepare to die!"

* * *

Hinata, Kidoumaru, and Kyuubi were all caught in a deadlock. Kidoumaru was suing four of his hands to keep Kyuubi from slashing his throat open, and he was using the other two to parry Hinata's two kunai. Normally, he simply hold the man behind him with two hands and punch the one in front of him, except that Kyuubi had used much more power in his attack than expected, and forced Kidoumaru to use some back up. Luckily, he had a backup plan.

He spit.

Hinata yelled with surprise as a golden mucus-like substance covered her eyes. Kidoumaru used the opportunity to slash his golden daggers at Kyuubi. When the biju saw this, he retreated instantly, and stepped back a few paces. Suddenly, Kidoumaru heard the word "Byakugan." And turned just fast enough to see Hinata come at him. She began slashing at him as if she could see in broad daylight. Kyuubi ran away from the conflict. Hinata began slashing like a psychopath, but it was more controlled. Then she threw one of her kunai quickly preformed some hand sings and punched the boy like no one had ever punched before, "Vortex punch jutsu!" Kidoumaru flew back, and landed on the ground with a dull thud. Then he saw it, a charging red battering ram with two plow-like blades. It was Kyuubi, about to slice him to pieces with two of his tails. That was the last thing he saw.

* * *

Naruto was have a great time. Before the battle, he had placed Hirashin seals on the potential field. And it was working wonderfully. Every time one of Tayuya's doki approached him, he simply teleported. The look on her face was priceless.

In actual truth, she would have snarled at him, but this was very hard to do when playing a flute, so instead she glared daggers at him. These failed, miserably. So she continued her melody, which, however sweet, was filled with malice.

Naruto decided to end this. He drew his sword, and as soon as the blade was out of the sheath, two of the doki tripped over their own feet. He teleported again, and sliced down.

Tayuya dodged, and survived.

Her flute was not so lucky.

It took two wrong notes for her to realize what happened, she simply stared at her cleaved instrument for a brief second. Then she screamed a scream that signaled the end of her world. Then she fainted without as much as a breath.

Naruto looked down on her unconscious body and said, "I should have done that sooner."

* * *

The four regrouped at the center of the compound. "How did it go?"

"A little disappointing." Sasuke said.

Hinata was rubbing the area around her eyes, "It was disgusting."

"**It was alright." **Kyuubi said.

"I think it was a little too easy." Naruto said.

The four looked at each other then laughed. Here they were after a battle acting as if it were a test. "Alright." Naruto said, "How many survivors, I have two, the girl and the fat guy."

"I have one." Sasuke said.

There was silence for a second.

"That's it?" Naruto asked. Silence. "Ok, let's get these suckers to Tsunade."

Naruto turned to Jiroubou. "Um, I made need some help."

* * *

After they moved Jiroubou, the four ninjas came back for Ukon and Tayuya. Ukon was where Sasuke left him, but Tayuya was nowhere to be found. "I wouldn't worry about her." Naruto said, "Unless she could find a music shop somewhere, she won't be coming back."

* * *

A cloaked figure loomed in the alleys of Konoha. It had been two weeks. She tried to go back, but that only ended in pain. Her hand moved to the back of her neck, and rubbed it, the consequence of failure still fresh in her mind. She hated her life. Correction, she hated her need for one. She had no reason to live, but she could not bring herself to suicide. So instead, she cried herself to sleep every night, and hoped she would not wake up.

She hoped in vain.

She could not even bring herself to starve to death. She had tried, but her resolved failed and she stole an apple from a corner shop.

She had no money, no shelter, she barely had any food. And her neck was killing her.

Literally.

Why is it that she had heard stories of people who were able to reconstruct their life, after something as tragic as a family massacre, but she was unable to even begin? What did they have that she didn't?

"_Hope."_ A voice said in her head.

Hope? What hope? What could hope possibly give her?

"_Life."_

"_Where can I find this 'hope'?"_

Then, words that were spoken but two weeks ago drifted into her mind.

Then she knew what had to be done. She had to find the Namikaze mansion.

* * *

Naruto walked in his mansion, finally getting used to the idea that it was his, and headed to the kitchen. He felt too lazy to walk all the way to Ichiraku's so he decided to finally use the recipe his father and/or mother left him.

His ear twitched.

"YYYYAAAA!" Someone cried behind him.

Naruto quickly grabbed the attacker's hair and pinned him to the counter. _"Her"_, he corrected himself, _"Shoulders are too narrow."_

Then she began to cry.

"_Aw, great."_ He sighed. "What is it you want from me?"

"I want my F___ing life back."

Tayuya.

"Look, if you want to kill me, you're gonna have the hardest time."

"I don't want you dead. I want you F___ing to help me!"

"Then please ask. You won't impress me much if you attack me out of nowhere."

"I need you to help me."

"Well what can I do?"  
"Look at my neck."

Then he saw it, a black shape with three arms stretching outward.

A cruse seal.

"Stay right there." Naruto said as he released her. He began analyzing it. He quickly sent a message to Kyuubi. "Alright come with me." Naruto said, he led her down to the training area. Tayuya heard the rustling of papers in the next room, and watched as a beautiful woman come from another room, a small silver tube hanging in the kunai sheath strapped to her leg.

The rustling stopped. **"I have it!" **a strong voice said from the room. **"It's the seal of the clouds." **A red-haired man said as he came into view, a scroll was in his hands.

"Lemme see." Naruto said. Kyuubi handed him the scroll. He quickly looked it over. "Alright Tayuya. Before I continue, you need to know this."

"What?"

"I can remove your seal; however, it will require something from you."

"Anything."

"You must make a conscious effort to change an aspect of your personality."

"What?"

"That's how it works. A seal like this is bound to you through character traits."

"So what, I just had to stop doing something and it'd come off?"

"Not quite. Normally, if the trait changes, it simply follows the change. However, I have found a way to keep the seal from adapting, my question for you is, are you willing to make a change?"

"Of course."

"You can never go back."

"Never."

"You must die to your old self, and be reborn to a new self."

"I'm six feet under!"

"Then Tayuya, from this day forward," Naruto's hand started to glow red, "I the old Tayuya will be no more." His hand came down on her seal, and her life flew before her eyes. When the memories stopped barraging her mind and her vision cleared she saw her seal for the first time, there it hovered in the red aura around Naruto's hand. "Never again?" He asked.

"Never again." She repeated. And seal faded into dust.

"Now come on, we should get you to Tusnade."

"What? Why?"

Naruto smiled, "Everyone born in Konoha has the right to become a ninja."

* * *

Two hours later Tayuya walked into Tsunade's office, a leaf headband on her head.

"So Naruto," Tusnade said to the man sitting in her office, "I suppose you want her on your team?"

"Well, it couldn't hurt."

"This is going to be a mess of paperwork." Tusnade grumbled.

"Um, Hokage-sama?" Tayuya said.

"Please, call me Tsunade."

"Um, Tsunade, I have some pretty earth shattering news with me."

"What."

"Orochimaru's alive."

* * *

DUN, DUN DUUUUUUUNNN!!!!! To those who didn't see it coming, shame on you.

Another chapter of Team Fox, comes to close.


	17. Chapter 17

You know the drill, Naruto is not mine, blah, blah, blah…

* * *

"Orochimaru's alive!" Tusnade yelled, standing up and tipping her chair.

Sandaime scowled, "He's getting harder to get rid of."

**"He's alive!?" **Kyuubi roared, **"How could he be alive? It was blood I drew from that body!"**

"From what I could gather," Tayuya began, "He used a very powerful puppet jutsu, where instead of using Chakra strings, it temporarily moved his soul into an identical puppet."

**"ARG!"** Kyuubi yelled, wanting nothing more than the snake's head on a silver platter.

"However," Tayuya said, "All of the damage you did to the puppet greatly weakened him."

"But he's had four years to strength himself." Naruto said.

"Well, there's a flip side to everything." Hinata said, "Four years of peace, four years of our enemy becoming stronger."

Tsunade fell back into her chair and sighed. "Very well, you are dismissed. I'll have some ANBU look into the recent activity of 'Otogakure'"

"Very well, besides, we have to do some training." Naruto said, hinting at Tayuya.

* * *

"Argh! Why won't you pop!?" Tayuya said, screaming at the water balloon in her hand.

"It's not that hard, Tayuya." Hinata said, watching her.

"Easy for you to say." She said as she tried it again. The balloon refused to burst. Frustrated, she threw the balloon onto the ground, where it popped and splashed on the ground.

Hinata pulled another one out the bucket next to the infuriated ninja. "All you have to do is get the chakra rotating in enough directions-."

"I know what I have to do!" She screamed. The balloon still did not pop. She tried again, and again, and again. It was driving her mad. Finally she simply sat down, to infuriate to continue. "Why won't it pop!?"

Hinata cleared her throat, "Are you ready to listen to my advice?"

Tayuya grumbled something that sounded like a yes.

"If you need a jumpstart for popping these, try using your other hand to start the multiple rotations."

Tayuya let the words process and picked up the balloon, "Like this?" She asked as she moved her free hand around the balloon. Suddenly, it burst in her hand.

Hinata smiled, "Yes, like that."

Naruto then entered, coming back from the library of jutsus, "So, how's it going?"

"She was able to pop the balloon."

"With the help of her free hand or not?"

"With."

"Hm, Well, it will do for now, but soon, I'll want you to be able to do it one-handed."

"Fine, I'll accomplish that later, now what?" Tayuya said.

"Now you can take a break."

"Oh, thank heavens." She said as she fell onto a nearby bench.

"We also brought lunch." Naruto said, as three shadow clones made their way in, each carrying a bowl of Ramen.

"Don't you have anything else to eat in this house?" Tayuya complained.

"It's all he eats," Hinata said, "Don't worry, it's not the worse food, and it's easy to learn to love."

"I personally don't know what you guys have against it." Naruto said, slurping down the noodles, "It is truly the food of the gods!"

"Yes, yes, I know it is." Hinata said.

Naruto was about to say something when he remembered a question he had earlier that day. "Oh, Tayuya, I've been meaning to ask you, what was your big change that you decided on?"

"Well, I decided to finally listen to Fata-I mean Jiroubou's advice, I gonna stop cursing my guts out."

"That's great news." Hinata said.

"Ah, that reminds me," Naruto said, "I have a gift for you." Another Shadow clone entered the room, carrying a gift wrapped package. "For you." He said, handing it to Tayuya before puffing out of existence.

Tayuya began unwrapping it and stopped when a black case was revealed.

"Keep going," Naruto smiled.

She found the two clasps on the box and carefully undid them. Her trembling hand lifted the lid to reveal a long slender flute.

"I figured that you are most proficient when you play one of these, and I owe it to you."

Tayuya was speechless. In one day, her life had gone from looking up to see rock bottom, to living on top of the world.

"I also took the liberty of picking out a new wardrobe for you, I'm sure that Oto uniform holds enough bad memories. They'll be in your room, second floor, third room down the hall on your right. I think you'll like the selection."

* * *

Tayuya came down the stairs, into the training basement, where Hinata and Naruto were eagerly awaiting to see how she looked in her new clothes. She had picked a black and red shirt with a swirl emblem on its front, with black shorts that came to just below her knees. She also wore black bracers, reinforced with steel, which came up to the back of her palm, and was connected by ring-like holes for her fingers to slip through and black shinobi sandals. After a minute of uncomfortable silence, Tayuya asked "Does it look ok?"

"Are you kidding?" Naruto said, "I've only seen one person more beautiful, and she's sitting right here." He pointed to Hinata.

It was true, she was rather stunning in her new outfit, and it was also functional.

"The red really complements your hair." Hinata said, as she looked the girl over.

"Thank you." Tayuya said, but before she could say anything else, however, a rubber ball was thrown at her.

"Part two of you training, break the ball." Naruto said, "As I have said before, the Rasengan is my teams signature S-rank move, you are going to be the one to break the record for learning it the fastest. Understood?"

"Uh…" Tyuya began.

"Good, now if you'll excuse, me I have to see a biju who wants to break something."

* * *

Kyuubi couldn't possibly be in a sourer mood. He had actually began to feel good about himself when he found out that, that slimy, backstabbing, snake was still alive. He had half a mind to release one of those prisoners, just so he could send a message, and the other half wasn't disagreeing. The only thing that kept him from marching up to the Hokage's tower was a voice in his head that told him it was wrong.

He grumbled. He needed to kill something.

Not too far from where he walked, Naruto was talking to a seemingly young, beautiful woman. "Look, Jasmine, I need you to talk to him, he wants to kill someone right now, and I need him to keep his mind off of learning that Orochimaru is alive."

"**Why do I have to help him?"**

"Because you're the best candidate," He said, moving behind her. "You, of all the kitsune, are the closest to him, besides, how many other beautiful kitsune could possibly make him smile?"

Remembering what had happed back on Hokage mountain a couple of nights ago, Jasmine wasn't sure she was the best candidate. **"Um…, I don't think-."**

"Nonsense, you'll do fine, now get out there." Naruto gently pushed her into the street, and unknowingly pushed her into Kyuubi. She looked up into his dark red eyes as Kyuubi was shocked at her sudden appearance. _**"We're so close…"**_ Jasmine thought, and then she blushed and quickly backed up, **"Sorry…"**

"**Uh…, Jasmine?"**

"**Yes?"**

"**What are you doing here?"**

Quickly, Jasmine pieced together a lie about how Naruto accidentally summoned her for a job, **"I was willing to help, until I learned that all he needed was some shopping done. But here I am, what we are reduced to."**

Kyuubi smiled, **"You do know that the market is on the other side of town, right?"**

Jasmine mentally cursed.

"**Naruto sent you be with me, didn't he?"**

"…**yes," **she hesitantly replied.

"**Fine, I could use some company."**

They walked in an awkward silence for a couple of moments before Kyuubi started, **"Ja-Jasmine?"**

"**Yes?"**

"**About what I said the other night, I was a jerk."**

"**No, no it was my fault, you just wanted to be alone, I understand that."**

"**Yes, but I did something I shouldn't have done, I reduced the death of you family to a sob story. If anyone did that to my family's death I would kill him."**

Jasmine saw his regret in his eyes and decided to move on to a more comedic conversation, **"Didn't you call your family's death a sob story?"**

"**Who?"**

"**You, you said something like 'why would I need to hear your sob story, I have one of my own', you're not going to kill yourself are you?"** She said, smiling.

Kyuubi caught on, **"Maybe, I'll have to catch myself first. Oh hey, what do you know, that was easier than I thought."**

Jasmine laughed, and it was a beautiful laugh, to anyone's ears it sounded like the most beautiful music.

Kyuubi loved that laugh, it reminded him of Kajin's. They continued on their way through the town, Kyuubi slowly forgetting that he had any problems at all.

* * *

A month later, Tayuya could finally summon a Rasengan with one hand, however it was taxing, so Naruto told her to keep practicing until she felt like she could do it with no difficulty. Now she stood in Naruto's basement for a final evaluation of her skills. Hinata and Kyuubi were also watching Tayuya's exam. "Excellent." Naruto said as a critical eye looked over the perfect blue sphere of chakra. "Now, what other jutsus do you have?"

"I have some genjutsus and a summoning jutsu where I control the summons with my flute."

"Well, let's see them."

Tayuya played a melody and suddenly there was a poof of smoke behind her. When she turned to see them, her mouth hung open.

They were as tall as she was, maybe a little taller, they all had a golden sash at their waist, they were all well muscled, and they all had shining blue eyes. One had a glimmering sword at his side, another carried a silver mace, which seemed to be comprised of angel wings, and the third one had his hands in two golden tiger claws. Upon seeing their master, they bowed low and said in unison, "Lady Tayuya, how may we serve you?"

Tayuya looked at them with wide eyes and open mouth. "I-I know you…"

"Should there be a reason that you do not know us?" The one with the sword said.

"I-I know you, but I don't know you…" she said, ignoring the summons's words.

"What do you mean?" The one with the tiger claws asked.

"I know who you are, and what you do, but I can almost guarantee that I've never seen you guys in my life." The summons looked heart-broken, and their faces multiplied her pity for them. "But, I feel like you belong with me."

"I think I know what's going on." Naruto said as he stood up, "The seal of the clouds, in order to discourage the wearer from trying to remove it in its early stages, it corrupts and changes the wearer's memories so that his/her life will seem worse than it was before the seal." Naruto walked over to the summons, "I theorize that these are your original summonings, while what you have been using are corrupted versions of them."

"Is that why I feel like I know them, because I _do_ know them?"

"That's my guess." Naruto said.

"I guess it'll suffice for now." Tayuya said, shrugging her confusion off for now, "Well, I suppose introductions are in order. Naruto, Hinata, Kyuubi, I'd like you to meet the Tenshi (angel) Brothers, Giri, Shin, and Kougi (honor, truth, and justice)." The introductions were made, and then Tayuya dismissed them.

Then she played some other melodies, each one Naruto found himself either in bliss or pain. When she finished, Naruto was slightly disappointed. "Alright, we have to teach you some more serious jutsus, but be warned, tomorrow, you are going to go through some of the most grueling training of your life."

* * *

Tayuya flopped down on her bed. Her first day of training had been torture that was beyond anything she had experienced in Konoha.

_Flashback_

"99, 100. Good, take a break." Naruto said, as he stood over the exhausted form of Tayuya, it was her fifth set of 100 push-ups. She rolled over, so she could try to get up. When she did, Naruto came back. "Now I want 800 hundred laps."

"Around the field?" Tayuya groaned.

"No, around Konoha."

_Flashback end_

Tayuya silently curse the buffoon who had inspired the physical labor Naruto dared called a workout.

* * *

Somewhere in Konoha, Gai sneezed. "YOSH! I will have the words spoken about me be about my flames of youth! I will run three thousand laps around Konoha!"

* * *

After a month of Naruto's abuse, He began to let off and teach her the Kyuubiken.

She was a natural.

Any training dummy put before her was shredded by the chakra she laced her punches with. "Very good," Naruto said, as she went through another hay person.

"Thank you, I do try." Tayuya said.

Naruto smiled, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto cried, and Tayuya suddenly found herself fighting Narutos instead of training dummies. She was able to take a good number before Naruto was able to subdue her. "Good job," Naruto said, reaching his down to pick her up, "You should be able to take on any chunin who would dare lay a hand on you."

"Well, it's good to know I can take care of myself." Tayuya said.

* * *

Team Fox walked into Tsunade's office, where Kiba's jaw crashed to the ground after getting a look at Tayuya.

"Well hello there, my name's Kiba, and yours?"

Tayuya gave him one look, "None of your business, Flea boy."

Naruto laughed.

Tsunade sighed. Why couldn't Naruto pick normal people, instead of loudmouth clones? "Before another fight breaks out," Tsunade began, "I have a mission for you. Team eight, you are dismissed."

Team eight left, with Kiba nursing his bruised ego.

"We have gotten word of some Oto activity in the nearby forests, and we want you to make sure that ends."

"Not a problem." Naruto said.

* * *

Team Fox was quietly slipping through the forest near Konoha. Naruto's ears were twitching at every sound. Hinata's Byakugan was active, Kyuubi was sniffing the air occasionally, and Tayuya and the Tenshi Brothers were ready to strike at a moment's notice. Suddenly Naruto froze. Everyone else followed his example. He looked to Hinata who increased her vision range. She then held up three fingers on her left hand and four on her right. Kyuubi carefully slid over tp Tayuya and explained, **"Four teams of three."** He whispered.

Naruto slowly pulled out a three-pronged kunai, and gave a foxy smile. He held up his hand and began to count down from five, four, three, two, one.

* * *

The sound nins were enjoying the rest of the day they had, and were about to call for dinner when out of nowhere, a kunai hit the trunk of a tree. Suddenly, there was a flash of yellow light, and there stood someone they had been told to avoid whenever possible. "Boo."

The camp went into chaos. One unluckily prepared chunin suddenly attacked Naruto, only for a chakra-laced punch to hit him in the chest and cause his heart to explode.

Suddenly, another ninja they were told to flee from appeared, her Byakugan seeing everything in the whole camp.

She was joined by the feared Kyuubi, holding a sword made of pure chakra, and laughing maniacally, **"I want blood! HAHAHAHA!"**

As if that weren't enough, three, buff, angelic warriors, jumped from the trees, and began attacking with gold and silver weapons. Hinata disabled three; hitting their legs till they went numb, then their other limbs were forfeit. Kyuubi took out his three almost nonchalantly. The Tenshi Brothers also made quick work of their foes, and Kougi administered quick justice on them with his sword. Naruto was able to take the last two alive. When they were finished, they tied the survivors together, and Naruto began his interrogation. "Can you go tell Tayuya it's ok to come out now?" He asked Hinata, who nodded before Naruto threw a sadistic smile at his captives. "Now, I'm going to see if there are any smart ones among you, answer my question right, and I'll go easy on you. What are you doing here?"

One major idiot sat up and cried "We'll never tell you!"

Naruto looked at him, and then turned to Kyuubi, "You can eat that one."

Kyuubi looked at him for a couple of seconds. The man had a smug grin on his face, almost knowing that no man would eat him. It was apparent that he did not have the latest edition of the bingo book, or he would know that Kyuubi was no human.

Kyuubi took his chakra sword, rammed his next meal in the heart, and dragged him over to the center of the clearing where he lit it on fire.

"Now, unless someone wants to become seconds, you'll tell me what I want to know." Naruto said.

No one took him seriously until they saw Kyuubi bite into a disembodied arm.

Naruto was about to be bombarded with answers when another ninja said, "Go ahead, feed us to your demon! We won't tell you anything!"

Their resolve strengthened, the ninjas sat quiet.

Naruto looked at the man who had spoken up, and punched him in his goods. The man began screaming at the top of his lungs and his voice was five octaves higher. When he finally settled, Naruto spoke up, "If you think he's over doing it, I _did_ make his balls explode."

One of the three remaining candidates fainted.

"This is going to be fun." Naruto said.

* * *

Naruto and his team walked into the Hokage's office, dragging a half-crazed Oto nin. "This guy will tell you all you need to know..." Naruto said.

"Ponies…" The Oto nin said.

"…As soon as you knock some sense into him."

Tsunade's eyebrow rose.

"Don't ask." Naruto said.

"So you only brought back one prisoner?"

"Yes."

"You only left one alive?"

"No."

"It's my happy place…" The Oto nin mumbled.

"Well where is the other one?"

"Well you see, Kyuubi has been pretty furious at Orochimaru and decide to send him a message."

* * *

Otogakure. The 'Otokage' as he named himself was sitting in his office when a knock came at the door. "Come in." He said in a raspy voice.

"Uh…sir… we have a report from the scouting party in Konoha."

"What is it?"

"One of the ninjas returned sir…he uh… has a message for you."

Another ninja came in, bragging a piece of flesh that was curled in the fetal position. The mass of flesh kept mumbling. "So much hate…So much hate…"

The Otokage moved to get a good look at the ninja. On his head the letter NN and K were written, placed there by a sharp kunai. The Kage knelt down, and looked into the nin's eyes. "What happened?"

The ninja looked at him, as if noticing him for the first time. Then he began to laugh. "They're coming for you. Haha, the Fox and the Flash are coming for you. Hahaha."

"Who?"

"The Nine Tails, and his Master."

The Otokage suddenly became very serious. He turned to the ninja closet to him. "Kill him."

* * *

On the other side of the world, Itachi was suppressing a headache. "So what are we going to do now, Itachi-san?"

Itachi was tempted to bash him over the head with a shovel. The only things that kept him from doing that, however, were the lack of a shovel, and the Sharingan that Tobi had shown him.

"We're chasing a Jinchuuriki that fled to the wave country."

"Do you think we'll catch it, Itachi-san?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because there are some spies watching us, and they just left to tell Konoha to send someone."

Tobi seemed to quiet down a bit, "W-Well should we do something about it?"

"No."

"A-alright." They walked in silence for a while, "Who do you think they'll send, Itachi-san?"

"Team Fox."

More silence. Itachi looked over to Tobi, who seemed lost in his thoughts. Itachi found this both relieving, and frightening at the same time.

* * *

Next Chapter, a new mission to wave, two Ataksuki, and two secrets come to light. See you next time.


	18. Chapter 18

Naruto no mine T_T

* * *

Team Fox entered into the Hokage's office, ready for whatever mission awaited them. Tsunade met them with a grim nod. "Team Fox, I have a mission of the utmost importance for you."

"Need us to clean your garage again?" Naruto asked.

Tsunade glared at him. When the laughs died down she continued, "I have just received word that Ataksuki is heading for Wave."

The team got more serious, "Do we have any idea who is in the team?"

"Yes, one of them is Itachi, the other is of unknown skill and power, his name is Tobi. I want them both brought back alive."

"Yes, ma'am. However, I have one request."

"What is it?"

"Can team seven accompany us?"

Tsunade looked at him. "You're requesting help from another team? I never thought I'd see the day." She mumbled before continuing. "Alright, I will inform them, Naruto, you'll be the leader. You have one hour to pack your things then meet at the gate, get to Wave as soon as possible."

"Yes, ma'am!" They said before they disappeared in smoke.

* * *

Team Fox stood at Konoha's gates, waiting on team seven. Kakashi, seeing how this involved Ataksuki, decided to ignore Obito protocol and be on time for once. Sakura took a little bit of waiting, seeing as how this was an important mission, she had to make doubly sure she had everything she needed, medical supplies, extra kunai, storage scrolls filled to the brink with weapons, etc. Sai was there, smiling a genuine smile, when asked about it, he said he was in love, which earned a round of applause from the rest. Sasuke arrived last, a scowl painted on his face. Naruto made a note to keep reminding him that they need to bring them back alive.

"Alright, you guys ready?" Naruto asked.

They mumbled.

"I'll take that as a yes, let's go!" He said biting his thumb, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" He cried, slamming his palm on the dirt. As the smoke cleared, before them stood four seven tailed foxes, each one was a little bigger than a horse. "Alright, Kyuubi, go with Tayuya, Hinata, your with me. Kakashi, you go with Sai, Sakura, you and Sasuke take the last fox. Any questions?"

"Uh…" Sasuke began.

"Good let's go!" Naruto yelled before jumping on one of the fox's back, quickly followed by Hinata. Kyuubi jumped on anther fox and Tayuya followed his example. Kakashi shrugged and grabbed Sai and jumped on a third fox. While Sakura and Sasuke looked slight unsure about it, the fourth fox was able to get underneath them. Suddenly Naruto's fox reared up and howled, while Naruto and Hinata hung on. "Let's get to Wave and catch some criminals!" Naruto yelled. And they were off.

* * *

Itachi frowned. They were having too much success. They needed to able to let this guy go, the problem was he was so weak that it couldn't be convincing. The Jinchuuriki in question was the container of the Rokubi, a six-tailed shark, and he was the saddest thing Itachi had ever seen. He knew three jutsu, he stunk at taijutsu and his ninjutsu was worse, he didn't know any genjutsu, but if he did, Itachi would be willing to bet he would stink at that too. They were chasing the vessel down the Great Naruto Bridge, and the Jinchuuriki, who despite his horrid ninja skills, was very fast.

"You'll never catch me alive, Ataksuki!" a mellow voice sounded from the boy's lips.

"_Please don't threaten to kill yourself, we have too many of those." _Itachi thought grimly.

"Please don't die, Rokubi's vessel-san, we need you alive so we can take over the world!" Tobi cried.

Rokubi's vessel turned and gave Tobi a look, he then turned to Itachi, "Is this guy for real?"

Itachi sighed, "That's a question I don't even want to answer."

The Jinchuuriki stood on the edge of the bridge. "Go away!" He yelled.

"Please come with us, Jinchuuriki-san, we promise to only knock you out!" Tobi pleaded.

Again all he got was a look.

Itachi approached.

"Stay back!" The vessel cried, a blue-grey chakra leaking from him.

"We promise we won't hurt you." Itachi said.

"I know **you won't."** the vessel said, the chakra taking the form of a shark's tail. He quickly turned and jumped into the water. Itachi ran to the edge of the bridge, just in time to see Rokubi's vessel swim across the waters at high speeds. Itachi cursed, while mentally he was thanking heaven for the save.

Itachi turned away and was about to leave when he saw four horse-sized foxes.

"And where do you think you're going?" Naruto asked from one of the foxes backs.

"Is this Team Fox, Itachi?" Tobi asked, no longer acting polite.

"Yes it is."

"Then should we run?"

"No, Tobi, we'll fight."

"Very well, Itachi-san." Itachi slipped into a taijutsu stance, while Tobi seemed to start handsigns.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Tobi yelled, pulling his mask just above his mouth so that the flames would pass unhindered.

Hinata jumped off the fox, "Suiton: Suijinheki!"She said before spitting a jet of water from her mouth, which met the fireball head-on.  
"Kakashi, you and team seven take the guy with the orange mask, Team Fox, we take Itachi." Naruto said.

"Naruto, let me take Itachi." Sasuke yelled.

"No Sasuke, we need to make sure they get back alive. I need to be sure he won't be killed."

"But-."

"No buts, Sasuke, just leave Itachi to us."

Sasuke took one look at Itachi, sighed, and then turned to fight Tobi.

* * *

Hinata was launching jutsu after jutsu against Itachi, who dodged each jutsu as they came at him.

"Suiton: Suigadan!" Hinata yelled as four water drills came from underneath the bridge to hit their target.

Itachi nimbly dodged, as the raging torrents flew past him. When suddenly, Kyuubi came at him with a sword of chakra and sliced down at his arm. Itachi barely made it with his hand. Hinata came at him again, attacking in the Kyuubiken, when suddenly, three angel warriors attacked from behind. He was able to keep them at bay with the aid of his Sharingan. He then began some handsigns "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" He said as he shot seven fireballs from his mouth.

Hinata acted for defense, "Suiton: Mizurappa!" She yelled before launching a strong stream of water towards the fireballs.

He was about to counter-attack, when Kyuubi was suddenly in front of him, attacking with Kyuubiken punches. Itachi was able to dodge with the aid of his Sharingan. When suddenly he found one of the angel warriors attack him with a huge mace. He nimbly dodged out of the way, only to get in the way of another angel warrior, who tried to take his head off with a sword of light.

Suddenly something hit his back, and he felt so miserably weak. He turned just in time to see Naruto, holding seal paper and an ink brush in his hand "Sorry I had to use a cheap shot, but then again, I _do _need you to be alive when we get back to Konoha."

Itachi then did something he had not done in years, he smiled. Then, he passed out.

* * *

Tobi was fast.

Seriously fast.

As Sai came at him with an ink sword, Tobi simply grabbed Sai's wrist, and pulled him into a charging Sakura. Sasuke was next up to bat, and was able to slice at him with a kunai before Tobi blew him back a good six feet with the "Fuuton: Daitoppa!"

Kakashi, however, was having a reoccurring sense of déjà vu. He began the handsigns for the Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu when Tobi beat him to it with one of his own "Doton: Doryuudan!" He lifted his mask and began spitting a long line of mud, which quickly took the shape of a dragon, which began spitting out mud balls with increasing speed.

Kakashi quickly dodged, using his Sharingan to aid him, and began another jutsu. "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" He cried spitting fireballs.

"Doton: Doryuu Heki!" Tobi cried, lifting his mask again to spit out a trial of mud, which suddenly erupted into a rock wall.

"Sasuke, now!" Kakashi yelled, preparing a Raikiri. Sasuke quickly prepared a Chindori.

Kakashi rammed his lightning covered fist into the rock wall, which caused it to explode into a thousand shards, while Sasuke came behind him, about to plunge his attack into the masked Ataksuki member, but suddenly, Sasuke released, it so instead of cutting Tobi in half, the electricity of the Chindori fanned out and electrocuted Sasuke's opponent unconscious.

"Nice job, guys." Naruto said as he came over with a seal in his hand. He slapped it onto the man's back, "Now I'm going to see if we can borrow a boat."

"Why do we need a boat?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto smiled, "You'll see."

* * *

"Thanks for letting us use your boat, Tazuna." Naruto said to old man who was rowing the boat.

"Are you kidding? If you needed my house I would have lent it to you. We owe you guys so much."

Naruto smiled, and then turned to the gathered teams. "If you're wondering what we're doing here, you guys are about to hear an S-class secret." He instantly got everyone's undivided attention. "But I'm not going to tell it to you." Now he really had their attention.

Naruto smiled and began to shake the unconscious form of Itachi. "Hey, Weasel-san, wake up."

Naruto was rewarded with Itachi mumbling "Five more minutes, Mom… I have to join Ataksuki today…"

Naruto held up a finger, signaling his audience to wait, and then he slapped Itachi across the face. Itachi sat up, fully awake. Well…almost. "What, what's happening? Is the hide-out caving in? Is Sasuke here?" Then he began to take his surroundings into consideration. "Oh, thank heavens; I'm no longer a part of that cursed organization."

"Thank you for coming to reality Weasel-san."

"Well, it's better than being asleep."

"Hang on." Sasuke interjected, "Why are you suddenly buddy-buddy with the man that killed my entire clan, and the man who ruined my life?"

Itachi sighed, He had no idea how to answer that question. He looked up at Naruto, "What do I tell him?"

"The truth, Weasel-san, the truth."

Itachi heart dropped when he heard that, how was he going to believe the truth? _Him_ of all people. He put his head in his hands and mumbled something.

"Come on, Itachi, it wasn't far-fetched enough for me to think you were lying.

"I-I didn't want to do it." He said hanging his head.

"Do what?" Sasuke asked.

"What do you think?" Itachi asked angrily, a small tear in his eye, "Do you honestly believe I wanted to kill Mom, or Dad, or even Shisui for that matter?"

Sasuke blinked.

"Of course you do, I played my part far too well for anyone to guess my real motives."

Kakashi looked at him, "What do you mean?"

"Is it really that hard to figure out, Kakashi?" Itachi asked him, "Well then maybe this will reveal something." He reached to his back and pulled off the chakra suppression seal on him, "Kai!" He cried, when a poof of smoke appeared on his headband. When the smoke cleared, it revealed the hitai-ate on his forehead to be not slashed, but completely whole and polished. He looked at the surprised faces and decided to explain. "I had a mission, Konoha had sent a spy into Ataksuki years earlier, but when he hadn't heard from him after four years, we suspected something was wrong, so Sandaime-sama gave me a special mission, I had to infiltrate Ataksuki, and become one of them. I knew, in order to do this, I had to become more powerful. So I began to look for something to improve my strength, that's when I stumbled onto the Mangekyou."

A tear fell from Itachi's eye, "Shisui was also a possible candidate for the Ataksuki spy, and when he heard about the Mangekyou, he knew that's what I would need, so he encouraged me to kill him. I refused to do it, and continued searching." More tears fell, and Itachi began choking on his words, "One night, as I was doing my research, I fell asleep. I-I still don't know what happened, but, when I woke up, I found my ANBU Katana in-in his chest. He-He smiled at me and said, 'It's for Konoha.' I still remember the look on his face, a look of victory mixed with pain. I-I didn't know what to do. He had set up everything, the suicide note, the slits on his wrist, everything. I-I ran back to the library, and as soon as I saw the Mangekyou scroll I found there were two ways to activate it, one of them required no death." That's when he simply broke down. "That old fool didn't have to die!" He yelled between tears.

Naruto picked up the story. "Afterwards, Itachi found the leader of the Ataksuki and managed to get in, however, there was one thing standing in his way. Initiation. He had to kill his entire clan. Itachi was able to bargain the life of his immediate family, but he didn't know that someone had joined him on his little trip."

"Madara." Itachi hissed, his voice full of malice and hate for that name.

"Yes, Madara Uchiha followed Itachi, and using a Genjutsu, attacked his mother and father under the guise of Itachi, that's when you, Sasuke, met Madara." Everyone looked at Sasuke, who took everything as almost surreal. "Madara, told you to hate him, to despise him, to use your hatred as fuel to become stronger, he tortured you with the Tsukuyomi. He did it all; while Itachi was asking forgiveness to everyone he killed, being sure to make it as painless as possible."

It was then that Itachi stood up, the whites of his eyes, red from the tears that he had held back for years, "Sasuke-nisan," Sasuke looked at him, confusion in his eyes, "I-I want you to understand this, I'm not asking you to forgive me, but please understand, I never wanted any pain to come to you, I wanted you to live with mom and dad, I wanted you to grow up, knowing what too much power could do to you, I wanted you to grow up becoming a ninja of the greatest degree, and loyal to Konoha, no matter what it asked of you."

Sasuke looked up at the man he had hated, and didn't know what to think of him. He still killed his clan, but it was for a mission, and he regretted it, he could see it in his black eyes. Sasuke didn't know what to do, stab him in the heart with a kunai, or comfort his brother. "Why?" he asked, "Why did you go through with it?"

"Because, Sasuke, as a friend of mine once said, 'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are less than trash.' The only friends I had left were you, Naruto and the village."

Kakashi's eye teared up, _"The kid actually listened to me."_

It was at that moment that Tobi spoke up. "Who told you that, Itachi-san?"

Itachi turned to the masked man, "Why do you care?"

Tobi smiled behind his mask, and lifted it off his face to reveal one black eye, while the left one was covered by a Konoha headband, "Because that's my line."

Kakashi's one eye went very wide, "O-O-Obito?"

"You didn't actually think that a boulder would do me in, did you Kakashi?"

"Bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-."

"What's the matter, 'Copy Cat' got your tongue?" Obito said before laughing.

"I-I can't believe it." Kakashi manage to say.

"Well, what can I say, being an Ataksuki spy for Konoha, isn't easy, is it, Itachi?"

Itachi's mouth was wide open, another loyal Uchiha, that close to him, and a spy for Konoha?

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm getting rid of this cloak, the fabric chafes." He unzipped his Ataksuki coat, revealing a black suit of ANBU armor, and he threw it off the boat, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" He watched the coat turn to ashes, before turning to the stunned members of the boat, "You have no idea how good that feels."

* * *

The rest of the trip was filled with questions, like how did Naruto know about Itachi, how did Obito survive, and while they answered them readily, Itachi was disturbed by his brother's silence. Obito noticed this and took his shoulder, "Give him time, Itachi-nisan, he needs to sort things out."

Itachi nodded before turning to Obito, "nisan?"

"Sure, why not, after all, there are only four of us Uchiha left, and personally, I hate Madara, so it only seems fitting that I join your family."

Itachi turned to his brother one more time, "I'm not sure my family is going to last much longer."

Obito frowned, "Hey, stop thinking about it, you asked for forgiveness, you've done your part, it's his turn now, leave that way."

Itachi nodded silently, When Kakashi came up to him, "So you were Naruto's bodyguard and used Tsukuyomi to send him a farewell message and you told him you'd do your best to protected him, and explained everything that happened to him right before you left?"

"Yes," Itachi answered, "I was glad Naruto believed me too, or that would have been an absolute waste of my vision."

"Speaking of vision," Obito began, "What _is_ the other way to gain the Mangekyou?"

Itachi looked at him and said, "A selfless act of grace and mercy."

* * *

Sasuke walke in the back, contemplating what he should do. Itachi seemed truly sorry, but that didn't change the fact that the blood of his family was on his hands. _"'Do you honestly believe I wanted to kill mom, or dad, or even Shisui for that matter?'"_ The words seemed to hold a fraction of the guilt that hung over his head.

The story that Naruto and Itachi had woven together seemed true, what's more, it seemed logical. It was then that the words of the Rokudaime Hokage had said to him when his seal had been removed, _"Choose wisely, dear boy. One fate can change another, and then another. I will not say to give up on your ambition, but do not let it ruin your life; it is too much of a precious thing to waste."_

_"One fate can change another? What did he mean?"_ As Sasuke thought about it, it slowly began to make sense, if he had tried to kill Itachi there, he would have never learned that Itachi never meant to actually hurt him. _"That still doesn't excuse him for doing what he had to for Konha, even though it wasn't asked of him."_

_"Are you sure about that?"_

_"Of course I am."_

_"Well what would have you done?"_

_"Not that."_

_"Really?"_

_"Yes."_

_"So that's what the old Sasuke would have done." _His conscious said, playing his ace card.

He sighed. _"Alright, I'll forgive him."_

He caught up with his brother, who, like Obito, had ditched the Ataksuki cloak. Sasuke sighed before continuing, "Itachi."

"Yes, Sasuke-nisan?" Itachi said, looking at him, pain still filled his onyx eyes.

"I-I forgive you."

"Really?" Itachi asked, surprise was evident in his pain-filled eyes.

"Really." Suddenly, pain exploded behind his eyes. "Ahhh!"

"Sasuke?" Itachi cried, alarmed by his brother's pain.

"AHHHH!" He cried, falling to the ground, clutching his head with his hands.

"Sasuke!" Itachi yelled, suddenly, the team seemed to jump into action, running to the Uchiha, ready to use whatever medical skills they had to help. But before they could do anything, it was over. Sasuke lay still and groaned.

"Sasuke-nisan?" Itachi asked, pulling his brother into a sitting position.

"Oh, what happened?" Sasuke asked, lowering his hands.

Itachi's mouth dropped, followed quickly by Obito's and Kakashi's.

"What?"

"I-I can't believe it." Itachi stammered.

Naruto began laughing. "Well, as I always say, Believe it!"

"What?" Sasuke asked confused.

Hinata reached into her bag and pulled out a small mirror. "Here, let this explain." She said, tossing it to him. He caught it and looked at his reflection.

He blinked. Twice.

His eyes were two red orbs, surrounded by black, creating an atom-like shape that was centered around his pupil. He opened his mouth, and then closed it. He looked up at the mirror, to see Itachi's smiling face.

"You did it, Sasuke. You activated the Mangekyou Sharingan, the _right_ way."

* * *

ANNNDDD CUT! That's a wrap, great job guys.

Itachi: Whatever, now where are my doughnuts?

RA: *sigh* downstairs.

Itachi: Thank you.

RA: Anyways, hope you enjoyed it, and see ya next time!


	19. Chapter 19

I don't own Naruto

* * *

Darkness. He liked the darkness. Years ago he had fallen into the black, and he never wanted to go back to the light. An evil smirk painted his face as he looked into a mirror. Tall, black hair, well muscled arms and chest, and two spinning Mangekyou Sharingan eyes. He chuckled darkly as he walked in his gloomy room. Very soon, the world would kneel at his feet. It was only a matter of time.

A knock came at the door.

"Enter." The man said, his voice was deep like the ocean, but hard as steel. A man entered, wearing a black cloak with red clouds decorating the ends. He had spiky orange hair and piercings around his face.

"I have bad news."

The black-haired man turned.

"We have been betrayed."

"Who?" He asked.

"Itachi and Tobi both. They were spies for Konoha." The orange-haired man said.

"Konoha." The black hearted man seethed, that city would forever be a thorn in his side until he destroyed it. "Itachi and Tobi?" he asked.

"Yes, and Tobi was an Uchiha also."

The black-hearted man cursed. _"Now I must fight six eyes."_

"What are we going to do, Madara-sama?" The orange-haired man asked.

"We continue on, they will be nothing but dust against a rock. Our progress will go on unhindered."

"Yes sir." The orange-haired man said, before leaving.

Madara turned back into his darkness, _"Yes, nothing but dust against a rock."_

What Madara did not know was that grains of sand can weather a rock down to the size of a pebble; all they needed was a strong wind.

* * *

Tusnade was both relieved and annoyed that Itachi and Obito were back. Relieved because Sasuke hadn't killed them, and annoyed because this was going to be the most complicated stack of paperwork she had ever gone through.

"So, Madara is behind the Ataksuki and they are trying to take over the world by using all of the power of the Biju to perform an 'ultimate justsu that will practically destroy the world?"

"Pretty much." Itachi said, "Also, we were able to eliminate all but two members of the Ataksuki, Pain and Konan. Pain is the wielder of the Rinnegan, which he uses to control multiple bodies at once. Konan, on the other hand, the self-proclaimed 'Angel of the Ataksuki' uses only paper-based jutsu."

Tsunade nodded, "Do we have any more information about Pain?" She asked.

"Yes," Obito said, pulling out a scroll, "I have information on each body and what its purpose is." He unrolled the scroll to reveal six faces, each had a name and its jobe wriiten below the picture. "When we fight him, I suggest we take out the Hell Realm Pain first, since it can resurrect any of the bodies we kill."

"Thank you boys, you are dismissed." The two Uchiha turned to leave, "Oh, and Itachi?" Itachi turned just in time to grab a flat object the Godaime threw at him. He looked at it for a second before he recognized it as his weasel ANBU mask. He looked up at the face of the smiling Hokage, "Welcome back."

Itachi smiled, nodded, and left.

* * *

Hinata was walking down a hall in the Namikaze mansion, wondering what the letter Naruto sent her could mean. She read it over again, looking for a hidden meaning. _"Dear Hinata-hime, I want you to come outside, I'll meet you there."_ Again she read it, and again she could not find the meaning that was written in-between the lines. Finally, she gave up on the letter and, crumpling it up, threw it to the side. _"What does he want to do?"_ she asked herself. She had no answer until she stepped outside.

Not four yards away from where she stood, was a large, black, structure that she couldn't identify. Leaning on it was a ladder with a note tapped to it. As she approached, she recognized it as Naruto's handwriting. _"Please climb"_ It said, with an arrow pointing to the ladder. Hinata looked up the dizzying height, and saw that at the top, there was a platform, which next to it was a small arched window.

She looked back at the note, wondering what on earth Naruto was planning before beginning the climb. When she finally got to the top, she found that the platform was a good four feet wide, which sat next to the window. Wanting to satisfy her curiosity, she walked to the window and looked out, and found that she was in a tower of sorts. She looked out to see the night sky, filled with stars, and slowly her gaze was drawn down to the ground, where she found trees growing. She looked at these in confusion; there had been no tree there before. There was also a lake that had not been there before, along with a long piece of ground that looked like a marsh. Finally, she looked down at the bottom of the tower, and her eyes widened.

Sleeping at the base of the tower was a huge serpentine dragon. Plumes of smoke rose from its nostrils as it breathed. Its red scales reflected the moon light. Hinata pulled out a kunai, just in case it decided to wake up. It, however, remained coiled around a rock, sleeping. Hinata suddenly decided she should back out, only to find the ladder gone. Where it had been was a note saying _"Trust me."_

A howl echoed in the background, and Hinata turned to the window, just in time to see none other than Naruto, wearing a silver breastplate, greaves, bracers, and a long sword at his side. He was riding one of the seven tailed foxes he summoned the other day. "Fear not, Fair Maiden, your knight is here!" He cried before urging his vulpine steed forward. He rode through the forest, and disappeared from her sight, when suddenly the sound of battle began sounding from the center. Hinata activated her Byakugan just in time to see Naruto slashing through greenish-black creatures. "Thou shall not stop me!" Naruto cried before running them through with the point of his sword. Naruto dispatched them quickly, before riding out of the forest to the lake.

He dismounted his fox, which disappeared in a puff of smoke, and ran for the lake. He ran across the water byapplying chakra to his feet, when suddenly, as he just crossed the middle, a huge water serpent rose out of the water. Its ugly serpentine head dripped slime while an evil tongue licked its large fangs. It suddenly struck out at Naruto, who jumped over its head, and plunged his sword into the creature neck. The snake writhed in pain as it disappeared under the water.

"You will let me pass!" Naruto said. Suddenly the snake rose out of the water again, and attacked the silver knight. "Stay back, creature of the Abyss!" Naruto cried, slashing at the snakes head. The snake retreated, and struck at Naruto again. As it did, Naruto jumped, just enough to dodge the mouth and before the snake could stop, Naruto raised his blade, and the snake's eye collided with it. The snake screamed and dove under the water again, defeated. Naruto then cried "For her love!" before finishing his crossing and diving into the swamp feet first.

Suddenly in his way appeared a gigantic vine golem. It had flaming red eyes, and no mouth, but it dripped slimy goo. "For my princess!" Naruto shouted before slashing the monster in half with a single swipe of his sword. The monster's halves lay there for a brief second, before rejoining. The creature stood back up, and roared from its invisible mouth.

"Back, creature of the underworld!" Naruto said, before stabbing the creature in-between its eyes. The monster screamed before attacking Naruto with a plant-like hand. Quickly, Naruto sliced at the hand as it came toward him, and then used his momentum to throw himself into the monster's chest. The creature's torso opened to receive him, and before Naruto knew it, he was swallowed by the monster's body.

In the tower, Hinata gasped, wondering if Naruto was ok. As if to answer her question, a bright, silver sword cut through the vines that made the creature's body, and sliced it in half.

After he sliced the monster again, the vines retreated, and Naruto continued drugging through the swamp. Halfway there, he stumbled and began to sink. Quickly, he swung his sword into a dry piece of land, and used the sword to pull himself up. "Nothing will keep me from her beauty!" He said as he climbed out of the swamp and faced the dragon.

The red dragon simply opened one of its eyes, before standing on two of its legs. It opened its mouth and shot a huge stream of flame that engulfed Hinata's knight. She gashed, as the flames seemed to eat her beloved away into ash. As the smoke cleared, she was relieved to see that Naruto had pulled a shield out and used it to keep the flames at bay. "Have at thee, Fire Demon!" Naruto cried, taking his sword and slashing at the dragon's neck.

The sword bounced off the scales, and the dragon launched Naruto away with a swat of its claw. Naruto was quick to recover as the dragon blew more flames at him. He raised his shield as the flames tried to swallow him.

Suddenly, the dragon's claw came down on the blond, and trapped him as the ivory claws dug into the ground around him, creating a cage. Naruto, thinking quickly, stabbed at the roof of his cage, into the dragon's hand. The dragon roared in pain as he pulled his claws out of the ground, freeing Naruto.

The blond quickly ran at the dragon, and the dragon attacked with its uninjured claw. Naruto jumped over the strike, and kept running at the dragon. The dragon dove at the boy with its mouth opened wide. Somehow, Naruto didn't see the dragon's mouth until the last second. Naruto didn't have any time to dodge at the sharp rows of teeth closed around him.

Hinata gasped at the reptile threw its head back to swallow, when suddenly; the silver tip of Naruto's sword pierced the dragon's snout. The dragon suddenly seemed to relax, and its long neck slammed into Hinata's tower, which shook upon impact. Dust was thrown up as the dragon fell, defeated. When the dust cleared, it revealed Naruto, standing on the reptile's head. "Lady of infinite beauty, Queen of my heart, I have traveled across many paths, and faced many dangers." He said, begging to climb the tower, by sending chakra to his feet. "I have come seeking to look upon the face of the fairest creature on earth, for she is too marvelous to be human."

Naruto climbed into Hinata's window. "And now that I have, I would like to ask you," He reached behind his back and pulled out a small black box. "if you would please," In one smooth motion, he knelt and opened the box to reveal a small silver ring, with a red ruby decorating the center, which looked like a Konoha leaf. "Marry me."

Hinata looked like she was about to faint. Naruto had just given her a fairy tale proposal. She smiled. "You know the answer to that."

"I know, but who says I still can't do things by the book?" Naruto said, a smile playing on his lips as he stood and slid the ring on her finger. He kissed her. "I just want you to know, that you are better than drugs, every time I look at you, you get me high. I would do anything for you, I would dive into the deepest ocean to pull out a pearl, I would dig in the strongest mountain to get you diamonds, I would climb the highest ladder to get you a star, and all you have to do is ask."

Hinata's eyes watered, that was the sweetest thing anybody had ever said to her. "Thank you, Naruto, for loving me."

"It's all because you loved me first." Naruto said, before kissing her again.

Meanwhile, below, Kyuubi cleaned up his ultimate genjutsu.

* * *

Itachi was jumping along the houses in Konoha. Being sure to act as ANBU as possible. Emphasis on act. He had told Tusnade that he wanted to retire from ANBU, and she had agreed, but told him to look like an ANBU until she announced the truth to the village. So he jumped around a lot, wearing his mask, making sure to look like he was off somewhere important. Of course, to him, it was important. It was the work place of the love of his life. He wasn't sure he could ever show his face to her again because of what he did, but, that didn't mean he couldn't watch and protect her. He landed on the roof of a building, not far from his target, and pulled out a pair of binoculars. He quickly spotted the brown haired vixen that had stolen his heart, and stared at her, wanting nothing more than to be near her. Her name was Ayame, the name itself seemed to beckon him to fantasies of him and her in marriage, he could already see the family photos. He sighed, unfortunately, that photo may never come into existence. He sighed as he put down the binoculars. He began thinking about what he should do.

His thoughts were interrupted by a voice, "You know, if you are wondering about her, you could ask."

Itachi jumped at the voice, and pulled out his sword. As he turned, he quickly recognized Naruto, but his instincts were in control at the moment, and it was only after getting into a kenjutsu stance that he exploded. "Oh, geez, man! Don't do that!" Itachi said as he put his katana away. He turned and sat back down, facing Ichiraku ramen.

"I'm serious, you should talk to her." Naruto said as he sat down next to the Uchiha.

"Easier said than done." Itachi said, "What if she doesn't understand, what if she hates me?"

"Itachi, I need you to look at me." Naruto said. Itachi sighed and turned, "I know exactly how this feels. I thought for years that Kyuubi would keep everyone away from me like the plague. I almost knew that no one would love because I'm a Jinchuuriki. But then I did something, I threw caution to the wind and told her, plain and simple."

"How did that go over?"

"She's marrying me this June."

Itachi sighed, and then looked back across the street. "It's not the same."

"How so?"

"You couldn't help being a Jinchuuriki, it was beyond your control. But what I did…"

"You couldn't control either, It was a mission that you had to do, that's all there is to it."

Itachi sighed again.

"Look, if you can't tell her, the least you can do is make it easier to accept you when the time comes."

Itachi looked up at him, "How?"

"Well, I'll tell you what, at around noon, come to the stand under a reasonably good Henge, then sort of squeeze what you can into the conversation."

"What?"

Naruto smiled, "You'll see what I mean." He then disappeared in a flash of yellow light.

* * *

Ayame was cleaning up the bar, making sure everything was spick and span for the next customer.

There was already one eating in the corner, but even so, it was a slow day. That didn't men that their profits would be small, though.

"Hey, Ichiraku! Favorite customer coming through!"

"Naruto!" Ayame cried, "The Ususal?" She asked.

"Of course!" Naruto said as he sat down to eat. As he was waiting, a cloaked figure entered, he wore a black cloak without a hood revealing red hair and blue eyes. Naruto nodded at him, and looked back at Ayame, anxiously waiting for his bowl. When she set it down in front of him, he began dive into the bowl.

The cloaked man asked for a bowl of beef Ramen and sat down.

The man in the corner looked up at Ayame and asked for a second bowl.

"So, Ayame." Naruto began, "I have a question for you,"

"What?"

"Well, I was with some the guys, and the subject of Itachi came up." At the name Itachi, Ayame froze. "And I was wondering what you think of him?"

"I…I'm not sure anymore." She said. "I used to think of him as a great man, but now…"

"Relationship?"

"Who told you!?" Ayame exploded.

"Sorry, didn't mean it like that." He said while thinking _"Whatever 'that' is…"_

There was silence for a while when suddenly the cloaked man spoke up. "I'm sorry, but the name Itachi is sending off a bell in my head. Would you mind if I asked you a couple of questions?"

"No, not really…" Ayame said, trying her best to not retreat into her shell.

"First off, your name is Ayame is it?"

"Yes."

"Well, then, I think I found a message to you."

"WHERE!?" She asked, grabbing the man by his cloak. "WHERE IS IT?!" She began shaking him.

"Iiiiittttt'sssssss bbbbbbyyyyyy oooooooonnnnnnnneeeeeee oooooooooffffffffff ttttttthhhhheeee ttttttttrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaiiiiiiinnnnnniiiiiiiinnnnnngggggg ggggggrrrrrouuuunnnnndddddssssssss!" The man managed to say.

"SHOW ME!" Ayame cried, pushing the man forward. Before she left she turned to Naruto, "Watch the shop for me, Naruto?"

"Sure."

"Thanks!" She said before dragging the man behind him.

The man in the corner stood up and walked over to Naruto, "I never left her a message."

"Yeah, well I changed that." Naruto said smiling.

"You didn't…"

"Yup."

"And that guy?"

"Shadow clone."

"You…are going to die if she ever finds out." Itachi said.

"What are the chances she'll find out?"

"Rather high." He said, "While I was a 'good guy' I taught her above average perception skills."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning I took it beyond above, left, right, behind and below."

"How 'beyond'?"

"Let's just say if the message is one year too young, she'll know."

"Then you better go tell her what's going on."

"Me?"

"Do you want me to go instead?"

Itachi sighed. "Alright."

* * *

Ayame was punching the robed man into the ground. "What," smash, "were," pound, "you," thud, "trying," pulverize, "to pull!?"

The man had lead her to a clearing that was one or two miles from the Ramen stand, and when they got there, Ayame immediately figured the carved message was a fake. This is when she began beating the snot out of the henged shadow clone. "Where you thinking about taking advantage of me, bub? Think again!" She said as she landed a bone crushing blow to the Shadow clones goods. It suddenly pooffed away, frightening Ayame a bit.

"Don't worry, he wasn't going to do anything to you." A voice said behind her, she tunred to see a figure she thought she would never see again.

There stood Itachi Uchiha.

"What, what are you doing here?" she asked, unsure about what to do. Should she run? Should she go tell the Hokage? Should she talk to him? Should she beat him into the ground for not saying good-bye?

He only lifted his finger. Then it happened, her whole world was turned inside out, everything he had ever done to her came back hitting hard. But among everything he did to her that hurt her, the worst was his leaving, one day out of the blue, he just disappeared, breaking her heart into a thousand pieces.

Her heart had just began to heal, or so she thought, but when these memories came back at her, it opened old wounds. She fell to her knees and began weeping, numbed by the pain her heart gave. Then a soft hand touched her chin, and lifted it, to reveal Itachi's two kind eyes, "I'm sorry for what I did to you, so let me make it up to you."

Another tear fell, and he caught it in his clenched hand. When he opened his hand, it revealed a growing rose, "I'm just waiting to turn your tears to roses." Her mouth dropped open, a rose, from her tear. She looked up at him, "Please let me make it up to you." He said, and then he disappeared, leaving nothing but the rose.

* * *

"_I've been outclassed."_ Naruto thought as he looked through Itachi's binoculars that he borrowed. He lowered them and headed to the Namikaze compound, where Itachi had been given a room to bunk in until the Hokage told the truth about what had happened.

* * *

"_This is gold!"_ a certain White-haired pervert writer thought, scribbling furiously in his notebook. If Tsunade hadn't kept him in the loop, and given him information like Itachi was a good guy, he would have attacked the Uchiha the moment he showed his face. _"But man, who knew this buy had such good romance in his body?"_ Jiraiya made a note to follow Itachi whenever he needed inspiration.

* * *

Ayame got home, shocked. Actually, the word shocked doesn't even come close to how she felt. The man who had been her love, who had turned his back on the village, killed his family, and seemingly didn't care enough to say good-bye at the very least, had promised to make everything he had done to hurt her right. While on one hand she felt like the most loved person on earth, she also felt like she was betraying the village she had been born into. After all, Itachi _was_ an S-class missing nin. Yet at the same time, he risked it all just to make her a promise.

Confusion swam through her head like a fish swims through water. What should she do? She looked down at the rose she was clutching in her hand. "What should I do?"

* * *

Tsunade sat at her desk, signing a few papers. When suddenly her door burst open, she looked up to see a civilian girl. She was followed by Shizune, who was, even now, trying her best to keep the girl from disturbing the Hokage. "Don't talk to her, just turn around and leave now."  
"Hang on Shizune." Tsunade said, she felt especially generous today. "I'll take this." Shizune nodded and left. "How can I help you?"

"I…I came to report that, I saw Itachi Uchiha near the village…" Ayame said, suddenly feeling like she betrayed him.

"Itachi?"

"…Yes…"

"I see." She paused and looked out one of her windows, "Tell me, miss…?"

"Ayame."

"Miss Ayame, if you've had a relationship with Itachi before his defection."

"Ah…Yes…"

"I see," she snapped her fingers and a bear masked ANBU appeared "Get me Weasel."

The ANBU nodded and disappeared.

"Please, sit." The Hokage said, motioning to one of the chairs in front of her desk.

She sat.

"I wasn't going to tell anyone until Wednesday, but it seems that he just can't keep a secret."

"Who?" Ayame asked confused.

Just then a Weasel masked ANBU appeared. As he came in, his masked eyes looked down at Ayame for a second, before turning back to the Hokage. "You…wanted to see me, Hokage-sama?" he asked slightly unsure of himself.

"Take the mask off, Weasel." She said, "Then I want you to explain everything to her."

"Ev-everything?"

"Yes, everything."

"Yes ma'am." He said, reaching his hand up to his mask and removing it.

Ayame gasped, and then her jaw dropped. It was Itachi. "Bu-but how?" She asked.

Itachi replaced his mask, "Come with me, I'll explain everything." He went out the door. Ayame looked to the Hokage, who nodded, signaling her to follow him.

When the door closed, Tusnade sighed, "This could turn to be the biggest mess yet."

* * *

Ayame followed her beloved- in-question down the hall. He stayed quiet, even though she noticed a tear fall every few steps. She asked him a question but he didn't answer, so she continued walking behind him. He led her to the Namikaze compound, and led her down a street that ran by the Namikaze mansion. He took her to a small, humble abode that had three stories and a very plain façade. He opened the door and motioned her through.

She hesitantly followed.

When she came through, he closed the door behind her. He then led her into a large dining room/living room and told her to take seat on the couch. She conceded to his request. Itachi then asked her if she would like anything to drink.

"Water, thank you." She said.

Itachi left and returned a glass in his hand. His mask still hung over his face. He set it down on a stained bamboo coffee table. He turned to a nearby window, not being able to stand looking at her.

Ayame took a sip in the awkward silence, and then set the glass down. Once she had, Itachi began. "I never wanted to do it."

He went on, explaining what had happened in the weeks before the massacre, his voice getting more choked with emotion with each passing minute. He told her about the Mangekyou, Madara, the Ataksuki, everything. It poured from his mouth like a dammed river that had finally been released.

When he got to the end he went back to his leaving her. "I-I never wanted to hurt you, but-but I had to, for Konoha. I had no choice, I-I'm sorry."

Ayame looked at him, as he stared out the window. She reached up to his mask and slowly pulled it down, revealing his pain-filled eyes. She slowly, tenderly kissed him, then she turned and left.

* * *

End of chapter.


	20. Chapter 20

I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Kakashi and Obito were walking down a street, receiving all of the glances that came toward them with glee. The thoughts behind the glances were easy enough to guess. _"Is that…no, it couldn't be Obito…" "Who is _that_ and why don't _I _know him?" _and in the largest quantity, there was _"Oh no, not two of them!"_

"So, Obito," Kakashi began, "would you rather have your toes cut off, or being hung from your thumbs?"

"Oh, that's a hard one, um… I'd probably would want my toes cut off. Ok, now how about this, would you rather be forced to eat fried worms for the rest of your life, or have your knee cheese-=-grated to the bone?"

"Would I have a choice of condiments for the worm?"

"No."

"Darn…Well, having your knee cheese grated could rip apart a tendon, and since that's the one thing in the body that would not grow back, I guess I'll take the worms. Ok, so how about this, would you rather have to watch Orochimaru belly dance or a Ramen shop burn to the ground?"

"Just kill me now."

"So I'm guessing that you still like Ramen then?"

"Do you still like that Icha-Icah carp?"

"It's not crap, it's very enlightening literature."

"Says you."

"And a thousands of other readers."

"Who all happen to be old perverts, and trust me when I say I know, I've met them."

"Whatever." Kakashi said angrily.

Obito smirked in victory, as he continued to walk down the street.

After some silence between them, Kakashi sighed, "It's good to have you back, even if it _did_ take three months of therapy to get over your death which apparently never happened."

"Not my fault you didn't know how to check a pulse right."

"That was Rin's job."

"Oh, right, and she was in on it…"

"How come you told her and not me?"

"Because we need a documented medic nin to witness to my death, and proclaim me dead, so that Konoha records would say I was dead."

"Geez, talk about feeling left out, you, Rin, sensei, all of you knew, except me!"

"Don't feel too bad, it was an SS-rank secret on a need-to-know-basis."

Kakashi sighed, "Well, we should probably head to the Hokage tower for the big announcement."

"What? And be on time?"

"Oh, my mistake, we should wait at least another hour, right?"

"At least."

Kakashi smiled, "It _is _good to have you back."

"Sh, I am getting lost on the road of life, and that takes a lot of concentration."

* * *

Meanwhile at Hokage tower, Tusnade was standing on a small balcony, Sandaime stood to her left, and a weasel-masked ANBU stood at her right.

When she was confident that everyone had arrived, she began. "Ladies and gentlemen of Konoha, I have very important news for you. Eight years ago, the details of Uchiha massacre were made know to the public, it was also released that Itachi Uchiha had been the criminal responsible for it."

Boos echoed in the crowd.

"However, I have come to tell you that instead of being a criminal, Itachi is to heralded as a hero."

The confusion in the crowd was audible because of the thousands of "huh?" that flew through the air.

"Itachi has been on an eight year mission where he had to infiltrate the Ataksuki, a S-rank organization who are bent on destroying the world. In order to properly infiltrate the Ataksuki, he had to fulfill an initiation. The first suggestions were to radical for Itachi to perform, finally the idea of killing his family came up, at the leader agreed to this and did not want anything less.

"So, Itachi then bargained for the life of his immediate family, and, able to achieve that, regretfully began the killings, unfortunately, the leader followed Itachi and killed the remains of his family, excluding Sasuke."

"So, he still killed his Family, why should he be a hero!?" A voice from the crowd yelled, this was met by cries of approval.

Tusnade raised her hand for silence. "Actually, I thank you for bringing that up, not long after the Massacre, Sandaime found evidence that the Uchiha were planning a coup. However, this evidence was inconclusive and would have only hindered Itachi in his mission."

Down in the crowd, and young woman was listening to this new information as if her life depended on it.

"However, new evidence proves that the Uchiha were planning an attack on Konoha, which was scheduled two nights after Itachi had passed his initiation. In short, if Itachi had not killed the Uchiha clan, most of you would not be alive today."

There was silence, the information was beginning to sink in.

"Now, I realize that most of you won't accept him because you are all too stubborn to get a new idea into head, as evidenced by Naruto, but, Itachi, unlike Naruto, has a couple of people to back him up."

As soon as she said the words, Naruto rippled into visibility, and Sasuke shunshined next to the weasel masked ANBU. "If any of you hurt Itachi, we will kill you."

"And they have my full permission to do so." Tusnade said. "But for those of you who have wised up, I present to you, your hero, Itachi Uchiha!"

The ANBU took off his mask to reveal a face that Konoha has not seen in eight years. Itachi smiled and lifted his hand, slightly disappointed that many of them did not cheer, a few did, mostly Shinobi who understood what it meant to not try to complete his mission, but many of the older civilians were now including Itachi's death along with the plots for Naruto's death, of course they'd never succeed, but they could still plot.

Itachi kept wqving and smiling and then whispered to the Hokage, "You never mentioned a coup."

Tsuande whispered back, "Couldn't have you compromise anything."

* * *

There was a knock at the door. "Can someone get that?" Sasuke yelled into his house.

"Not me!" Obito yelled.

"Yeah, yeah!" Itachi cried back, walking up to the door. He opened it and was met by a pair of ruby red lips. Itachi was smothered by Ayame's kiss as she threw her arms around him. Itachi was forced a couple of steps back as she leaned into her kiss. She broke off for a brief second, but only to get her point across.

"I love you, but if you _ever_ do something like that again, I'm going to castrate you." Before Itachi could say anything, she kissed him again.

* * *

Tusnade called Naruto to her office and he arrived with his hood up, and his tail hidden.

"I've heard that you and Hinata are going to tie the knot?"

"Yup, this July."

"Congragulations."

"Thank you."

"Now, I have an SS-rank assassination mission for you, and your unique abilities."

"Unique?"

"Fox ears provide acute hearing, and the tail gives you enhanced balance, and the cloak of invisibility makes you practically undetectable."

"Alright, who's the target?"

"Orochimaru."

"Thus the 'SS-rank' part of the mission?"

"Precisely."

"Alright, I just have one request."

"What?"

"Kyuubi comes with me."

"Why should he?"

Naruto frowned, "He and the snake have some unfinished business." Naruto said darkly, "Besides, it's not like he'll compromise the mission." Naruto said, his smile returning.

"Alright, take him along, but make sure that you bury that snake for good this time."

"**That won't be a problem."** Kyuubi said, as he appeared in a puff of smoke, and then faded back into Naruto.

* * *

Blood. His blood. Orochimaru looked up against the black sky, two figures, one red, one white. "We're coming for you, snake."

"**And this time, I won't miss." **

Blood dripped from their hands, his blood. For the first time in years, he felt an gnawing fear bite at his insides.

"You want death, well it's coming."

A pain flashed on his forehead, and he knew, he didn't know how, but he knew, into his forehead was carved two 'N's.

"**And we're coming fast."**

* * *

Orochimaru sat up, sweat covering his body. He looked around his room, found it empty. He checked his forehead, no blood, no pain, no 'N's. He sighed, just a dream. Or so he hoped.

* * *

Koi, a sound sentry, was bored out of his ever-lovin'-mind. There was nothing to do, except stare out into the inky black darkness, which, in all honesty, was his job. He propped his elbow against the top of Otogakure's wall, and sighed.

Another man on the walkway came up to him. "You do have to admit it's boring, but it is the safest job in the village."

"Don't use the word 'safe,' it reminds me how boring this is."

There was silence for a moment, when Koi asked "So why'd you come over?"

No answer.

Koi turned to his fellow sentry, and saw that he was now headless. The headless body stood there, and raised an arm at him. Then, a soft, wispy voice said to him, _"We're coming…to finish what we started."_

Koi began to back up, "Stay back, whatever you are stay back!" He was so scared that he forgot the wall came only waist high from the walkway. As he was backing up, his foot came into contact with the wall, but his body's momentum was too strong. He fell off the wall and landed with a sickening _crack! _

The headless body suddenly dropped, and it stayed like that, as if someone who had been propping it up, and dumped it.

They were coming.

* * *

Orochimaru tried to go back to sleep, but the dreams he had of Naruto and Kyuubi coming after him were too much. So he simply lay there, on his bed, hoping that when he did finally drift to sleep it would be a dreamless one.

A thud sounded at the door. Orochimaru sat up. _"What was that!?"_ He panicked slightly. He forced the panic down and stood up, and walked to his room door. At the floor was his guard, staring up at him with dead, fogged over eyes, and two 'N's carved into his forehead.

Orochimaru slammed the door shut. A thought went through his mind, it was such as strong thought it was like he could almost hear it. _"He's going to kill you."_

Orochimaru forced the thought down, "No, no I'm a Sanin," he said aloud to comfort himself, "He's not going to kill me."

"_He did once."_

"I-I underestimated him, it won't happen again." Orochimaru quickly walked over to his closet, and pulled out some ANBU bracers and greaves. He then pulled out some needles, and a small beaker. "I'd love to see him survive this." he said, covering the needles with the poison. He then summoned Kusanagi.

He slowly made his way to the door, his sword at the ready. He opened it, and quickly stepped over his guard's body. He snuck down the hallway, seeing more dead bodies with the double N marked onto their foreheads.

"_Do you really think some poisoned needles are going to kill them? After all, you have no idea, where he is. He could be…right…behind us…"_

Orochimaru turned suddenly. Nothing but empty darkness met his eyes. He turned back forward and stepped over more bodies of his subordinates. The hallway he was in suddenly came to an end, and in front of him, another hallway ran perpendicular to it, creating two corners from where his hunter could ambush him. He pressed himself against the corner, and carefully checked both ways of the corridor. Inky black darkness kept him from seeing anything. He took a tentative step to the left, and decide it was the best way to go. He carefully made his way into the blackness.

"_He's going to kill you."_ It was that thought, that strong thought that seemed to never go away.

Orochimaru shook his head. _"Stop thinking like that, you're a Sanin! One of the greatest." _Orochimaru thought, his confidence returning momentarily. His grip on Kusangai tightened, and he took a bold step into the darkness.

"_He's going to kill you, he's not going to let you go this time."_

"_Silence!" _He told himself.

"_He's going to kill you."_

"_Shut up!"_

"_He's going to sneak up behind you and stab a Kunai through your heart."_

"_No, he's not."_

"_All your work to become the greatest being in the universe will be nothing because he's going to kill you."_

"_Shut up!"_

"**HAHAHAHA! Your mine Snake!"**

Orochimaru almost wet himself at that voice that echoed through the inky blackness of the halls. There was only one creature who could laugh that menacingly.

"_Remember what happened to you last time."_

Orochimaru shuddered at the memory.

"_This time you won't be so lucky."_

Orochimaru gulped and continued down the hallway.

"**Yes, come closer Snake, I have been waiting."**

Orochimaru stopped, fear was coursing through him like blood through his veins.

"**So I have to come to you huh? Alright Snake, Here I come."**

"_He's going to kill you, Orochimaru, and I am too."_

Orochimaru had enough time to realize that those thoughts had not been his thoughts before a Kunai came through his throat. _"I hope you accept _my apology for taking your needles, but we can't have anyone get hurt, can we?" The voice in his head said before he realized that it had never been in his head, it had been beside him, moving around him, making it sound like it had been everywhere. That voice had been taunting him, discouraging him, wearing him down, and scaring him. That voice had been an invisible Naruto.

He had just enough time to think all of these thoughts before Kyuubi was in front of him. **"We're going to kill you, this time so you won't come back."** Kyuubi launched a Kyuubiken fist at his heart, destroying it. So ended Orochimaru the snake Sanin, the one who claimed to be immortal.

* * *

Naruto and Kyuubi quickly put the bodies back where they had found them, and lit them all on fire, leaving no evidence to how they were killed. By the time someone found out and began calling for help, The bodies were already heaps of ash.

* * *

Not far from Otogakure, the two men sat, one had a white coat on, blond hair, and blue eyes and the other had red hair, a red vest, and red eyes. They were watching Otogakure go up in smoke/

"I'm surprised at you," The blond said, "I thought for sure you were going to cause him some serious pain."

"**He felt my pain four years ago, now I just wanted to kill him."**

"Well, then lets head home."

* * *

The next day, the sun shone brightly in the Hyuuga compound. However the moods of the elders were as sour as ever. Especially since news of Naruto's proposal had just reached them. Neji had never seen the elders in this kind of uproar before, sure the time when Naruto had removed his seal had been bad but this was on a whole new level for them. Something told him something bad was going to happen.

* * *

Naruto was in his house, about to dive into a bowl of warm, homemade Ramen, when a knock sounded at the door. "Darn it, why can't I just eat in peace?" He got up and walked to the door. When he opened it he was surprised to see a Hyuuga boy, about twelve. "The Elders want to see you and Hinata." He said.

"About what?" Naruto asked.

"About your proposal, I think it was."

"Alright, I'll go over, but tell them not to be surprised if the branch members break out into revolution."

The boy smiled and left. "I'll tell them."

Naruto closed the door, and yelled into the house, "Hinata! Get ready to go!"

"Where are we going?"

"To see my future in-law!"

* * *

Hiashi stood in the Hyuuga council chamber, angry as a hornet. These Elders had their minds fixated on bringing the Namikaze down, and he was fed up with it. A knock sounded a boy came in, "They're here."

"Send them in." A Hyuuga elder said, a grim expression on his face.

The boy nodded then headed out, and after a second, the two fiancés entered.

"Namikaze-san." An elder said, almost concealing his hatred for the boy.

"Yes, the one and only has arrived," Naruto said, bowing, "however, that will soon change." Naruto said, grabbing his soon-to-be-wife, and kissing her tenderly. The killing intent given off by the collective council would have made any Jounin weak in the knees. Naruto shrugged it off. "So why is my presence requested here?"

Hiashi explained. "They want your proposal to Hinata nullified."

"Did you show the agreement between you and Dad?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, but they say it is null and void because then you weren't a 'demon' now you are."

"Wow, that's shallow."

The council fumed.

"So, I guess that means the proposal is up for debate?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, it is, Namikaze-san." Another elder said, spitting the name Namikaze out as if it were a curse.

Naruto smiled, "Then we should call the Hokage."

"No!" one of the clan elders objected, "This is a clan matter."

"No, it's not." Naruto said, "Unless you've forgotten, the Namikaze clan, despite being only one member large, _is_ a clan, and because of its clan status, this is a matter between clans, and therefore, it is a village matter, the Hokage should be present."

The elders remained silent.

"I don't care which you choose, although I'm partial to the Sandaime, since he was around for the incident."

The Elders quickly conversed among themselves. "Very well, we shall call the Hokage here."

"No you won't." Naruto said, "Because this is a village matter, and all village matters are to be among the clan heads and the Hokage, so unless one of you becomes the clan head, then you should be doing your best to convince Hiashi that I'm not fit to marry his daughter."

The Elders got real quite.

Hiashi glance up at him, smiling mischievously, "How do you know so much about Konoha law?"

"Kyuubi wanted to be a lawyer at one time, but he had too much heart. So he settled for killing enemies."

Hiashi smiled. "So, unless you have anything else to say to me, I say this meeting is adjourned. And as for you too." Hiahsi said turning to the couple, "I hope you have a wonderful married life ahead of you."

"Sounds good to me, Hiashi-sama."

"Please, call me Dad."

* * *

And End chapter.

I would have put this up yesterday, but then some of you would have taken it for a joke.

See ya later!


	21. Chapter 21

I don't own Naruto, heck, I don't even own the food in the refrigerator.

* * *

The Dark man sat in his black room. He needed to kill something. He looked around his room, and found a small rat. He grinned. "Katon: Edan." The Dark man spit fire from his moth and roasted the rat, leaving nothing but a flaming pile of bones.

Soon enough, Konoha would look the same.

* * *

Naruto almost glided down the streets of Konoha, as happy as he could possibly be. He had found the secret to his ears and tail. They only came when he was in a five tailed mode. At six, there was too much power for them to take form, and at four there was too little, five was the exact amount, and using any of Kyuubi's chakra to coat his body would disintegrate them. He was suddenly very glad he had a training session with Kyuubi.

_-Flashback-_

"So, according to your theory, using only one tail of your chakra, I should be able to harness the Rasenshuriken with minimal damage?"

"**Only if you concentrate most of it into your hand and arm. Otherwise the damage would only be slightly relieved."**

"Alright, let's test this out."

Kyuubi nodded then faded into Naruto. Slowly, Kyuubi's red Charka began to flow out of him. A chakra tail formed behind, next to his flesh tail, as his teeth grew to fangs.

He smiled and began to form the Rasengan. Then, slowly, the Rasengan began to disfigure. It grew four, long, curved, blades, much like a windmill shuriken would have. His smile got bigger and bigger as the Rasenshuriken got more and more powerful. He then dispelled it.

"Mission success!" Naruto said as the chakra Fox cloak faded. Suddenly Naruto felt off balance. He tried to shift his tail to rebalance himself, but failed and fell forwards. He pushed himself up on his elbows and shifted to look behind him.

No tail.

Naruto blinked. He then went through some very familiar handsings. "Freedom of a trusted servant jutsu." Kyuubi faded into view, and looked down on the prone body of Naruto.

"**Well I'll be."**

"What about my ears?"

Kyuubi took a quick look, "As human as they could possibly be."

Naruto looked up at him for a second, before jumping into the air "Sweet!" He quickly ran home to show Hinata, then the Hokage, then anyone who ever knew about his ears or tail.

_-End Flashback-_

He spent a little more time experimenting with his ears and tail and was able to unlock the secret. Now he was on his way to Ichiraku for some well-deserved Ramen. When he came in he found two other customers, Obito and Itachi. Obito was downing a fifth bowl of Miso Ramen, and Itachi was eating a sixth bowl of a Ramen he hadn't seen before. Ayame was juggling Ramen making and love-struck staring at Itachi. "Oh, Hello Naruto!" Ayame said, smiling.

The two Uchiha looked back at him, noodles hanging from their mouths. "Heyff!" Obito greeted, speaking around his noodles. Itachi only waved.

"I never knew you were the Ramen type Itachi." Naruto said as he sat down.

Itachi emptied his mouth, "Three words: Pocky flavored Ramen." He said before diving back into his bowl.

"I'm going to guess that the new meal is your doing?" Naruto said, looking at Ayame.

"Guilty as charged." She smiled.

"Well, I might as well try it out, One Pocky, six Miso to start with." Naruto said. Obito looked at him.

"Coming right up." Ayame said.

"To start with?" Obito asked.

"Yeah."

Obito's one eye watered. "I found a fellow Ramen lover, at long last."

Itachi scowled "Sometimes I prefer Tobi." He grumbled under his breath.

"So I've been meaning to ask you guys, how tough do you think Pein is?"

Itachi looked over at him. "Are you kidding? I've heard he has never been beaten as Pein."

"Well there's always a first time isn't there?"

"Why the Pein question?" Obito asked, "Hokage-sama hasn't sent us on that mission yet, has she?"

"No, but I feel the time is close." Naruto said growing serious.

"Here's your order." Ayame said, handing him a bowl.

"Sweet!" Naruto cried, smiling and diving into his bowl of Ramen.

* * *

Tsunade felt at ease, for once in a long time. Orochimaru was gone, finally, everyone was ok, the economy was looking good, Sandaime was thinking about retiring as advising Hokage, which means he would be one less siphon of her money. Now all that needed to happen was for Jiraiya to quit writing those disgusting books of his and the world would be perfect.

She picked up the newspaper and looked at the lottery numbers for the week. She pulled out her ticket and compared the numbers.

What she saw made her blood freeze.

"Shizune! Put the whole village on red alert! Prepare all defenses! Evacuate the civilians to the safe house! Get every Chunin and Jounin into the plaza!"

"Why? What's happened?"

"I won the lottery!"

Shizune looked at her for a moment, and then the realization hit her. Whenever Tsuande won, her loved ones lost. "Yes Ma'am!"

She snapped her fingers and three ANBU appeared. Tsunade pointed to an ANBU with a bear mask. "Bear, I want you to get all Genin to move with the civilians, it's their job to keep them safe." Bear nodded and disappeared.

"Cat," she said, pointing to an ANBU with a feline mask. "I want you to organize all of the wall's defenses." Cat nodded then disappeared.

"Lizard," She said, pointing to the last ANBU, he wore a reptilian mask.

"It's a Dragon." He said.

"I don't care. I want you to scout out the area around Konoha. Then report back with your findings."

Dargon nodded then disappeared.

She quickly looked around, found her elusive intercom and pushed the button down with almost enough force to break it, "Get me Team Fox, Jiraiya, Itachi, Obito, Sasuke and Kakashi! NOW!"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade quickly looked around for her hat. This was as important as it got.

She silently prayed that this was only a fluke.

Naruto suddenly appeared in the Hokage's office with a yellow flash, a couple of weeks ago, he had hid a Hirashin seal in the room. Hinata was with him, caught in the Hirashin vortex. "What's going on?" Naruto asked.

"I think we're about to be attacked." Tusande said.

* * *

Dragon was jumping through the forest, looking for any clue that an attack might happen, while mentally wondering why he had to do this. _"Really, she wins and then she thinks the world's going to come down on our heads! Is her luck _that_ bad? Really?"_

He jumped onto a nearby tree branch to catch his breath. He was about to move again when an explosion shattered the tree he had been standing on. Dragon hit the ground with a thud, hitting his head against a rock.

His world tipped crazily as dizziness from the hit washed over him. When the dizziness subsided, he found that he was surrounded by eight figures. One was a woman had blue hair and an origami rose was tucked into it. Six of them were men that had black piercings covering their bodies, and had eyes that were made of six, concentric, grey rings. The eighth figure was a man with jet black hair and onyx eyes.

Dragon tried to push himself up when his arm exploded in pain, a quick glance at it revealed that it was broken. The man with the black hair and black eyes reached down and picked up Dragon by the neck. His eyes suddenly transformed into those of the Sharingan.

A sneer appeared on the Uchiha's face. "Konoha will fall to me."

* * *

The gathered Jounins and Chunins were standing in the plaza outside the Hokage tower, worried as a mother who's teenage daughter hasn't come back for two hours after curfew. Tsunade came out, onto her balcony, accompanied by the three loyal Uchiha, Team Fox, Kakashi Jiraya, and Sandaime Hokage. "Shinobi and Kunoichi of Konoha, I have serious news. I won the lottery."

Some of the Shinobi, who didn't know about Tsunades brother and boyfriend dying thought she went to all this trouble to tell them that her luck was changing. Those who knew better instantly went into high alert. Suddenly, a Vulture masked ANBU kunoichi appeared next to Tsunade. "Hokage-sama, I was following Dragon on his scouting trip when he was attacked by seven shinobi and a kunoichi."

"What did they look like?" Itachi asked the ANBU.

"The kunoichi had blue hair and wore a black cloak with red clouds on it."

"Konan." Obito whispered.

"Six of the men looked somewhat alike, in that they had black piercings and grey eyes."

"**Pein." **Kyuubi growled.

"And the last one was different; he had black hair, and black eyes. He also had what I think is the Sharingan."

"Madara." Itachi hissed the name like it was a curse.

Tsuande moved between Itachi and the ANBU, "I want you to lock down all of the gates."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Shinobi and Kunoichi of Konoha," Tsunade said, turning to the audience, "it has been confirmed, we are about to be attacked by three SS-rank missing nin. One of them is Madara Uchiha and he wields the Eternal Mangekyou, be extremely cautious when facing him. The second one is named Pein, he is the wielder the Rinnegan, and he has found six body hosts and is extremely dangerous. Finally, there is Konan, she has a wide variety of paper jutsu and is nicknamed the Angel of the Ataksuki."

Jiraiya spoke up. "I can tell you already, that as my students, Pein and Konan were extremely deadly, but that was years ago, now, they are no doubt strong enough to kill me."

That got the ninjas worried.

A figure in a black cloak slipped into the plaza.

Tusnade continued, "Many, if not most of you will die today, but I ask you to stand with us, as the three most powerful ninja in the world come to attack us."

Immediately the ninjas began muttering to themselves, until a loud din hovered over the crowd.

The figure in the black cloak smiled, they were afraid, he could smell it.

"That's not exactly how you encourage people, Baa-chan." Naruto said.

Tsunade looked at him, "If you think you can do better, then please, go ahead."

Naruto smiled. "I think I will." He stepped up to the edge of the balcony, and listened to the low roar of the crowd. He filled his lungs with air and yelled "KOOOOONNNOOOOOHHAAAAAAAAA!" The word echoed across the plaza, silencing the crowd. When the echo finally died down, Naruto began. "That was my battle cry. I will not lie to you, we, who live on the frontline of this village, are about to face a terror that makes Kyuubi's attack seem tame." The crowd remained silent, "But if Yondaime was willing to give his life, if Sandaime was willing to give his life, if the Nidaime, and Shodai were willing to lay down their lives for this collection of broken buildings, then why should we toss it away and dishonor their memories?" The crowd kept silent, engrossed by Naruto's words, "If they were here now, I know they would be down there with you, encouraging you, pleading with you, begging you to help them defend this village with your dying breath. If my father were here, he would have wasted no time, and would have gathered his Hirashin Kunai long before this meeting had even been called to order. He would be ready to die even before the first word of an attack had reached his ears. Next to me stands Obito and Itachi Uchiha, these men have laid everything on the line, their hopes, their futures, their loves, they put everything down for this village. Also next to me stands Tayuya, she found a new life in Konoha, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she is willing to repay this village by laying it down.

"When I look at people like these, I see the shadows of the past Hokages in them, I see the Shodai, the Nidaime, even Yondaime, I see them lurking in their eyes, wanting nothing more that to rise up in defense of this village." No one even blinked, but they were all staring at Naruto, "This day, I am asking you to thank those who have already given their all for this village, I'm asking you to honor their memories, I'm asking you to keep their dream, the dream of Konoha, alive. I am asking for you to help them!" He pointed at the Hokage Monument, whose five stone faces seemed to beg for help, "I am asking you to be there for them.

"And I promise you, I will not sit back and watch like some powerful hypocrite, I promise that before this day is over, my battle cry will ring through the forest another ten times. I promise you, that if anyone will lay their life down, I will! I swear to you, on my dream of becoming Rokudaime Hokage, that I will protect this village with my life. And I hope and pray that you will do the same." Tsunade took a quick look in the audience, some of the ninjas had a few tears in their eyes, and others were looking at the Hokage monument, as if those stone faces were speaking to them. "And do not worry about your lives, for even if you die today, it will not be in vain, even though we face some of the most powerful ninjas in our time, take heart, for on your side you have some who are far more powerful, you have Jiraiya, Tsunade, Itachi, Sasuke, Obito, Kakashi, Hinata, Tayuya, and even Kyuubi himself, who have all sworn to protect this village with their lives! But my question to you is if you will let them stand alone? Will you let Konoha fall to dust and ashes? Will you let Madara destroy what the Hokages have worked so hard to build? Will you let all the good we have done be for nothing? Will you?" Naruto asked the crowd.

"NO!" many of them shouted.

"I asked if you will let it fall?"

"NO!" More this time.

"I can't here you!"

"NOOO!" The entire corwd was shouting.

"Then let me here your battle cry!"

"KOOOONNOOOOOOHAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Again!"

"KOOOOOOOOONNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Let Madara know who he's messing with!"

"KOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Konoha! Konoha! Konoha! Konoha! Konoha! Konoha! Konoha! Konoha!" The chant began to rise into the air, fist of a thousand Shinobi were thrown into the air, ready to lay their lives down.

Naruto turned to Tsunade, her mouth hung slightly opened, "That's how you inspire a crowd."

The man in the black cloak frowned, their fear had been decimated by the blond boy, this was not good. He left the plaza, and before anyone noticed that he had been there, he was gone.

* * *

For years, Jiraiya had told Tsunade that his telescope was good for something other than peeping at women when he was out of their arm's, and fists' reach, now he was proving it. "There are at least seventy Rain Nins closing in on the gate." He yelled from the top of the Hokage tower to Tsunade.

"Good, keep watching."

"Will do."

Tsunade, however, made her preparations. She dipped her fingers in a purple paint that matched the color of the jewel on her forehead, and painted to long lines that went horizontally across her cheeks. She then drew the summoning circle and performed the "Kuchiyose no jutsu." When the dust cleared, there were two slugs on her shoulders.

"Ah, Tsunade, it has been a long time." The one on her right shoulder said.

"Yes, but it is time none the less, Hedoro (slime)." Tsunade said.

"Have all the preparations been made?" The one on her left shoulder asked.

"Yes, Yuuchou (slow), they have."

"Very well, you may begin."

Tsunade nodded, "Sennin Moodo!" she said, slowly her back began to change into a blue color, while her front grew a pale white. "Let's go." She said to her sluggish companions.

Meanwhile, Team Fox made their own preparations. Kyuubi was going through the hidden Namikaze armory, picking out several spears, naginatas (look it up if you have to), katanas, tonfas, chain whips, kunai, shuriken, windmill shuriken, makibishi, senbons, and exploding notes, all of which he sealed into a large scroll which he secured to his lower back.

Tayuya was having the Tenshi brothers sharpen their weapons, and she herself was preparing for a fight, arming herself with kunai, shuriken, and a pair of wrist blades that could retract along her arms.

Hinata was going over her Fox tube with a critical eye, making sure it was in perfect condition, just in case disuse kept it from working right. She was also armed with a nunchaku that Tenten had given her.

Naruto was filling his coat with Hirashin kunai, while a shadow clone sharpened the Fox blade.

* * *

Madara looked over Konoha, wishing that it was already burning to the ground. His scout had reported that the ninjas were ready and waiting, and not the least bit worried. He smiled, _"Good, it gives them hope, and I will enjoy crushing that hope."_

Pein approached, "Madara-sama, the ninjas are in position."

"Good, tell them to wait for my signal."

Pein nodded and turned away.

"Something's bothering you. What?" Madara asked.

"I-I just have a bad feeling about this, nothing more." Pein responded.

"Be sure it stays that way."

* * *

Tsunade stood on top of Konoha's wall, accompanied by Jiraiya, in his Sennin mode, his nose had grown and had large warts on it, he had extra marks on his cheeks, and two toads sat on his shoulders.

"So it all comes down to this."The toad on his right said.

"I'm afraid it does, Pa." Jiraiya said.

They stood in silence for a while, until Pa spoke up, "Ma," he said to the Toda on Jiraiya's left, "If anything happens, I just want you to know that I love you with all my heart."

"I love you too, Pa." Ma said, smiling.

The whole thing made Jiraiya feel lonely. He sighed.

"What's the matter Jiraiya?" Tsuande asked.

"Oh, it's only that in my books, my characters always live happily ever-after, growing old and dying together, as happy as they were the day they met." He sighed again, "But it seems that whoever is in charge of writing my story won't give me that chance."

"I'm sure you'll find someone, Jiraiya." Tsunade said, trying to comfort him.

Jiraiya smirked, "Who are you kidding? I'm 54 years old for crying out loud! Who in their right mind would want some old geezer as a husband?"

She blinked as she thought about it. Here he was, an old man, accepting age with only the regret of never being married. And if she couldn't even bring herself to look at her true self, then what kind of woman would want to be married to a man that old? The more she thought about it, the more she realized that, no woman in her right mind would be married to a man that old, except maybe a woman that old. She opened her mouth, about to say something when Jiraiya said something that poured guilt into her heart.

"But of course, any woman I can even hope to be happy with, only sees me as a stupid pervert who writes the most disgusting books on the planet. Then they push me away before I can even say a word. It's not like I'd put them in my book or anything, but no, they won't even give me a chance."

That silenced Tsunade very fast. Guilt poured over her conscience as Jiraiya's words played over and over again in her mind. _"Then they push me away before I can even say a word…_ _they won't even give me a chance."_

After a few seconds of silence, Jiraiya spoke up again, "Sorry, I just have to vent every now and then…"

"It-it's ok." Tsuande said, not even daring to look him in the eye.

Jiraiya looked up to the sky, and seeing the dark and ominous clouds, spoke. "They'll be here shortly; he's just preparing the rain."

* * *

Kyuubi stood, looking out across the trees; he was at the west gate, staring into space, waiting for the time to come. Kyuubi felt a familiar presence, he turned, and he saw Naruto approaching.

"Hey Kyu."

**"Naruto."**

"Hey, Kyuubi, I want to ask you something."

**"What?"**

"If anything happens to me, will you take care of Hinata?"

**"Naruto, have you forgotten that if you die, I die too?"**

Naruto smiled, "No, I haven't forgotten that that is how it _used_ to be."

Kyuubi looked at him, **"Used to be?"**

"I made a small modification to my seal."

**"How small?"**

"Kyuubi, there's no need to beat around the bush, you're free, honestly free."

**"But what about you? I mean, your charka coils are adapted to coexist with mine-."**

"You can still come and enter my mindscape, Kyu," Naruto said, interrupting him, "I'm just giving you a little more freedom."

Kyuubi looked at him, stunned.

"Oh, and you won't be needing that anymore." Naruto said, holding the Chakra shackle that bound him to the Biju. The shackle shattered, and Naruto smiled, "Now just take care of Hinata if I die, ok?" He asked.

Kyuubi was too stunned for words, so he just nodded.

"Good, I'll hopefully see you afterwards." Naruto said returning to his post.

Kyuubi just stood there, in shocked silence. He looked at his wrist, unbelieving. Did he really just do that? He smiled, _"Minato, your son is just like you, big heart and everything."_ He kept smiling, until the rain began to fall. He turned to the forest, a scowl on his face where the smile used to be; now it was time for business.

* * *

Next Chapter, The Invasion of Konoha, and Kyuubi's secret past.

Wrote this in two days! Whoo! I'm on a roll!


	22. Chapter 22

I don't own Naruto.

* * *

The rain came.

In a matter of minutes, the rain was coming down in sheets. Once the rain was spread across the village, Pein began his report. "They have one hundred chunin on the walls, and fifty jounin." He told Madara.

"Good," the Uchiha said.

"There are also four Kage-level chakra signatures along the walls, three of them are right next to each other on the walls."

"Nothing to worry about, Pein, but just in case you're losing your nerve…"

Pein suddenly looked around him, "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Just a little insurance," Madara said, "I'm bringing you to the battle field, so you can see your victory with your own eyes, and you won't even think about leaving me when things start to look bad."

Pein stared at him. After awhile he spoke, "Just keep me out of sight." He then turned and walked away.

Madara smiled, he won this round, and the next was his too. By the end of today, Konoha will be nothing but ash.

* * *

The rain came.

The Jounin and Chunin stood, the water soaking their clothes through. Not one of them budged. Lightning flashed against the sky, lighting up the world for a half of a second. Then they came, the rain nins began to trickle out of the forest, then they came in force, coming out of the trees, and closing in on the walls. Naruto looked at them, over a hundred rain nins now were charging the walls, and begging to run up them. Naruto looked down the wall, then to his left; he saw Kiba's face, slightly scared, watching the nins approach. Then he looked to the right he saw Chouji watching them, his face looking steeled against them. Naruto looked back down at the wall.

He smirked.

"KOOOOOOONNNOOOOOOOOOOHHHAAAAAAAAAA!" he cried, before he dived over the edge of the wall. He was falling head-first towards a single rain nin who had strayed too far ahead. The nin was probably blind not to see the white blur approaching him, but apparently he somehow missed Naruto coming at him and continued to climb. Naruto made contact, grabbing the nin as he disconnected from the wall. Naruto quickly brought his own feet to the wall, so he skidded to a stop, and then he went into a spin, using his previous momentum to increase the speed. As soon as he came around, Naruto threw the nin in his hands at another less-than-attentive nin, sending them both to a painful death at the ground.

Naruto quickly drew the Fox blade, and instantly, three ninjas tripped, falling to the ground with sickening thuds. Naruto smirked, "Welcome to Konoha. Welcome to Hell."

As soon as Naruto spoke those words, the battle cry sounded behind him. "KOOOOONNOOOOOHHHAAAAAAAAAAA!"

* * *

Hinata waited as the rain nins came up the wall. As soon as they did, Hinata quickly used the rain around her to send them a message. "Suiton: Suishouha!" She cried, as a huge column of water appeared, and rammed into the rain nins that had just climbed over the wall. She then quickly drew the Fox tube and, extending its size to that of a Bo Staff, brought it down on the head of another rain nin, bashing his skull in.

"Here come more!" Tenten said beside her as she drew a katana she was using out of an unfortunate rain nin.

"Well let's see what they've got, she said as she replaced the Fox tube and drew out a kunai, while her other hand was going through half handseals, "Taikigakure Ryuu: Mizukiri no Yaiba." The rain began to form into a sword in her hand.

"Hidden Waterfall technique?" Tenten asked, surprised.

"You didn't think that the Namikaze jutsu library was filled only with Konoha justsus, did you?" Hinata asked, as she lobbed off the head of a nin that had just jumped over the walls.

"Well, yeah." Tenten replied, as she switched the Katana in for a Kusarigama (a sickle with a chain and a heavy iron weight), before she decapitated another unlucky rain nin.

"Well, surprise." Hinata said with a smile as the water sword cut an enemy nin's arm befor she ran him through.

* * *

Tayuya and the Tenshi brothers were slaughtering the oncoming rain nins. Giri, with his tiger claws, was ripping through anyone who got too close to Shin, whose heavy mace slowed him down. Kougi stayed close to Tayuya, keeping her safe as she played the notes. Slowly, a rain nin crept behind her, a kunai in hand.

The Ame in raised the kunai above his head, ready to plunge the knife into her neck when a cry to the right caught them both by surprise, "Gatsuuga!" a spinning drill of wind and body came flying at the ninja behind Tayuya, and killed him.

Kiba stood up, "So, now that I've saved your life can I get a name?"

"It's Tayuya, now keep watching my back." She said, before going back to her melody.

* * *

Kyuubi grinned sadistically.

The grin widened as the seven rain nins in front of him began to quiver under the Killing intent he was unleashing on them. One them screamed in fear and went into a fetal position. **"I am Kyuubi, the Demon of Konoha, face me if you dare."**

None of them dared.

**"Looks like I'm just going to go to you then."** Kyuubi said, suddenly, he grew a tail, which extended out to the ninja that was lying on the ground and grabbed him. The following gore would give the nins in front of him nightmares for the rest of their lives.

Those that survived, anyway.

Kyuubi laughed as he licked the blood of his blade, **"Who's next?"**

The nins answered him by jumping of the wall, screaming in terror. Those that survived ran into the forest, never to be heard from again.

* * *

Madara smiled, Konoha was winning.

All according to plan.

"Pein," He said, "Have Asura Relm give them a round."

Pein nodded, while another one of his bodies, one whose shoulders seemed to connect to the top of his head, came forward. It raised its arm, and a thousand missiles shot from it like a cannon.

* * *

Naruto, still standing on the wall's side, shouted his battle cry to signify the halt of the enemy forces. "KOOOOOOOONNNOOOOOOOOOHHAAAAAAAAA!"

"KOOOOOOONNOOOOOOOHHAAAAAAAAAA!" The Konoha nins called back.

Naruto smiled as he saw the nins retreat to regroup.

Until he saw a thousand bright spots against the sky. Naruto ran back up the wall, "Get off the wall! Missiles! Run!"

The ninjas on the wall began running to the nearest stair, other simply jumped onto a nearby building. They ran trying to get out of range of the deadly explosives.

The missiles hit. Explosions rocked the ground and sent rubble flying. Naruto went flying. Screams filled the air. Naruto was surrounded by the sound and screams of pain. When the smoke cleared, he saw that he was in a single clearing of rubble, where the rocks had fallen all around him. He stood up, a little pain in his joints from the fall. He stood tall among the rubble, until he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"N-Naruto…" He turned, and under the rock, was a face of a man who had been like a father to him.

"I-Iruka?"

"Na-Naruto." He said, his voice was raspy as blood trickled from his mouth, "You get this guy…and be-become Hokage, alright?"

Naruto was too shocked for what was happening to even register in his mind.

"D-do it for me. Alright?"

Naruto nodded.

"Good…a-and Naruto."

"Y-yeah?"

"Y-you were like…like a s-son to me…" Then Iruka, the Chunin teacher breathed his last.

Naruto, with tears in his eyes, kneeled closed Iruka's eyelids. "And you the closest thing to a dad to me. May your journey be quick, and the life in paradise, everlasting."

Tears fell as he stood up.

He lifted his head to sky and his battle cry erupted from his mouth. "KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The word was mixed with a fury of deadly power, and with a sorrow that broke one's heart when he heard it. The word echoed through the forest, planting fear into the hearts of those who had been foolish enough to raise up against Konoha.

All except Madara.

He had heard that before. He had heard that pain, and it was music to his ears.

Naruto looked out into the forest, "Team Fox! Uchihas! Kakashi! Come with me, were going offensive."

* * *

The rain nins, after receiving encouragement from Pein, charged into the Konoha through the broken wall, only to be met by a ridiculously strong, acid-spitting Tsunade, and a fire spitting, toad croaking, hair-needle throwing Jiraiya. "Haha! It's been ages since I've had this much fun!" Tsunade said, as she used only a finger to cause a rain nin to go flying.

"I'm telling you," Jiraiya said, "Every time you use Sage mode, you get more and more sadistic!"

Tsunade only replied by laughing insanely.

* * *

Madara looked at the mayhem the two Sanin were causing. "Pein, we need Hell Realm in there." Pein nodded, and Hell Realm was about to move, when a three pronged kunai stuck itself into the ground in front of him. Suddenly, there was a yellow flash, and the word "RASENGAN!" echoed in the forest, as Hell Realm was sent to his namesake.

Naruto was there, Fox blade in hand, and the other was the remnant of the Rasengan that killed Hell Realm. "I'm giving you three seconds to leave and never come back. 3,"

Madara suddenly activated his Mangekyou, and hoping to catch Naruto in Tsukuyomi, moved to face the blond, only for an atom-pattern Mangekyou to get in the way. "Madara," Sasuke said, "Long time no see."

"2," Naruto said.

Kyuubi suddenly appeared, guarded from Madara by Itachi, **"Nagato, it's been years."**

"What are you talking about, Kyuubi?" Pein asked.

"**Come on, don't tell me you don't remember,"** Kyuubi suddenly transformed into a twelve year old kid with red hair, Konan gasped while the Peins' eyes all widened. "your old teammate, Zurui (sly)?"

"You-you're Kyuubi?" Pein asked, suddenly feeling afraid.

"Duh, Zurui isn't just a name." Kyuubi said before transforming into his human form.

"1." Naruto said. "Team Fox, Pein and Konan. Team Sharingan, Madara." Naruto said as he ordered the fights.

"Team Sharingan?" Sasuke asked.

"I like it!" Obito yelled as he arrived, before diving at Madara.

* * *

Team Fox was in a stare down with Pein, Pein, Pein, Pein, Pein, and Konan. **"I've heard you've been spreading lies, Nagato."**

"Shut up."

"**I've heard it said that no one has ever beaten you while you were Pein. But we both know that's a lie."**

Pein didn't answer.

"**We both know there was one person who could beat you."**

Pein remained silent.

"**We both know I could beat you."**

"Which is why I'm here." Konan said, as she stepped in-between Pein and Kyuubi.

Kyuubi smiled, **"So I see you finally took my advice, huh? Trying to not be as useless as a bump on a log?"**

"Shut up, Zurui." She growled.

"**Oh, my mistake, I thought there was actually a person I was talking to, not another fangirl."**

"Shut up!" Konan yelled.

"**You, know, it's funny, here you are, keeping me from destroying Yahiko's body, oh the irony is practically dripping off this one."**

"Shut up! Kami Shuriken!" She cried, quickly folding two sheets of paper and then throwing them at Kyuubi.

"**Katon: Housenka no jutsu!" **Kyuubi shot two fireballs at the paper weapons, burning them to harmless ash. **"Impressive, you don't need a Fuuton anymore, that means you have to have done some improving."**

She gritted her teeth and was about to attack again, when a hand rested on her shoulder. "Back down, Konan." Pein said, "He'll rip you apart with all of the Katon jutsus he knows."

Kyuubi smirked, **"Both wise and unwise at the same time. Wise, in that you have saved her life, and unwise in that it has ended yours."**

"I'd love to see you try, Zurui!" Pein said, as his bodies gathered around him.

Kyuubi smiled as he stood still, and began making handsigns. _**"Naruto,"**_ Kyuubi spoke to him through the mental link they still shared, _**"Keep me covered until I finish this."**_

"_You got it!"_

Pein, seeing the long line of handseals, began to attack, "Fuuton: Reppushou!" He launched a wave a wind that had the strength to knock Kyuubi over, when suddenly, Naruto was in between the two of them.

"Fear of the Forest Techinique: Fear of the Fox Blade! Stage one: Fire!" The Fox Blade, covered in its flaming aura, cut the gale, and sent a flaming arc at Pien.

"Suiton:" Pein said, trying another set of handseals, "Suiryuudan no jutsu!" The rain around him suddenly formed into a large dragon. It broke through the flame coming at him, and continued on to Naruto.

"Stage two: Earth!" Naruto said, running the point of his sword in the ground in front of him. Where the point had tread, an Earth wall rose up. The water splashed harmlessly against the wall. Naruto suddenly kicked the wall, which went flying at Pein, threatening to knock him over before crushing him.

"Raikyuu!" Pein said, hurling a ball of lightning at the wall, breaking it in half.

"Stage three: Wind!" A wind arc came at the ball of lightning, and dissipated it.

"Katon: Edan!" Pein cried, blowing a huge flame from his mouth.

"Stage four: Water!" icy needles flew at Pein and the fireball, putting it out.

"Doton: Doryuudan!" Pein said as he summoned a mud dragon, which spat mud projectiles at the water needles, barely saving himself from death.

"Stage five: Ligntning!" A ball of lightning ran through the mud balls, incinerating them, before Pein, who was in the middle of the handsigns for his next jutsu, was forced to dodge. Naruto saw the opening, and finished the jutsu, "Stage six: Grass!" Suddenly two vines wrapped themselves around Pein's arms. The other Peins moved in to free him, while one moved in to attack. "Kyuubi, now!"

"**Spirit traveling Technique!" **Kyuubi cried, before being sucked into Yahiko's body's eyes.

Yahiko's body gasped, and then fell to the ground.

The other Peins quickly ran to the east.

Konan looked at Yahiko's body, which was gasping deep breaths of air. "Pein, Pein, are you all right?" She asked worriedly.

Yahiko's body looked up at her, staring at her with two triumphant blue eyes. Konan gasped. "Pein's not here, not anymore…I'm free." He said, before fainting.

Suddenly, a cry erupted to the east. Konan and the remainder of Team Fox ran to the point of origin to see all of the Pein bodies lying on the ground.

There stood Kyuubi, a sword in hand, in front of a large grey object. In the center of hung a thin body.

Kyuubi sword was in his chest.

"**You are the biggest idiot, Nagato."** Kyuubi whispered, with a tear running down his cheek.

* * *

Kakashi was doing his best to keep from making eye contact with Madara. He was the only one who couldn't resist the Tsukuyomi as well as the others. So it was his job to find an opening, and use his special Mangekyou ability. The others were either covering him, or throwing some serious jutsus around.

"Amaterasu!" Sasuke cried, as he spat black flames at Madara.

"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" Cried Obito, hoping to drown the evil Uchiha.

Madara jumped out of the way, so that the two jutsus hit, having Amaterasu evaporate the water into steam, while the water cooled the flames from black to a dull orange.

"Susanoo!" Itachi cried, and a large spectral figure appeared, wielding both a sword and a shield.

"You think that will stop me?" Madara laughed, "I know its secret. Rain Stopping technique!"

Susanoo, the god of storms, slowly began to disappear. Itachi kneeled over and began to cough, hacking up blood.

Obito went in, engaging Madara in a taijutsu match. Madara was breathing heavily, but was able to punch Obito in the face.

Kakashi was moving frantically around the battlefield, trying to find the right opening.

Sasuke came at Madara, kunai in both hands, and began slashing at him, like no one has slashed before.

"Is that all you have? Eight eyes against two and you cannot defeat me? You are truly the most pathetic of all of Konoha."

"Shut up and die." Sasuke replied.

"And it's all because you refuse to use your hatred."

"Just die already." Obito said.

"You refuse to get stronger by denying your hatred."

"Zip it, moron." Itachi said as he got up.

"Now you will die at my hands."

"_Come on, come on, give me an opening."_

Madara raised his arms to the sky, "And I shall beat Konoha to the ground!"

"_There!" _Kakashi thought before launching his jutsu, "Kamui!" Suddenly, one of Madara's arms imploded on itself.

Madara looked down at the stub that used to be his arm. He chuckled, "Things just got interesting."

Sasuke renewed his assault, trying to end the life of the man who killed his mother and father. Madara, only grabbed one of the kunai out of his hand and began to use it to defend himself. Itachi came at him from behind, only for Madara to back flip over him, leaving Itachi to run into Sasuke.

Obito came at the side, rushing Madara, who twisted out of the way with the grace (and pride) of a Spanish Matador.

Kakashi prepared his Rakiri, and was about to drive it home, when Madara threw his kunai in the air, grabbed Kakashi's wrist and broke it, all before the kunai began its descent.

He threw Kakashi into the recovering Uchiha brothers and caught the Kuani as it came down. "Still too easy."

Sasuke got up from the dogpile, "Why won't you die?!"

"Isn't it obvious, Sauske? I'm immortal! No man can kill me." Madara said, lifting his hand to the sky, drunk on his own power.

Suddenly, there was a yellow flash behind him, and cold steel was pressed against his neck. "No man, huh? Well how about a Jinchuuriki?" Naruto's voice said, before the blade cut his throat, and Madara died, gurgling in his blood as it slowly filled his lungs.

"KOOOOOONNNNNNOOOOOOOHHHHAAAAAAAAA!" Naruto cried to the sky.

* * *

This is the last Chapter, next is the Epilogue


	23. Epilouge

I don't own Naruto, for the last time! (for this story, anyways)

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* * *

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20 years later.

The Rokudaime Hokage sat with his feet propped up against the desk, enjoying the perks of being Hokage. Namely, free ramen. He pushed the button on his intercom, "Ino, can you be a good secretary and get me another bowl of Ramen?"

"I'm not a secretary, I'm an assistant."

"Whatever." Naruto said as he released the button.

An ANBU stood next to him, his mask was that of a toad.

"What so you think Yahiko?"

"About what?" The ANBU asked.

"The whole secratary/assistant thing?"

"Personally, I-."

Suddenly, a young boy, about twelve burst into his office, he had dirty blond hair, whisker marks, and blue eyes. "Dad! I need some help here!"

Naruto shiged, "What did you do this time, Yuuku (trouble)?"

"…Nothing…"

Naruto stared at the boy. "Okay, so I hid a paint bomb in Konohamaru-sensei's desk, that's all."

Konohamaru, upon becoming Chunin, decided he had a love for teaching, and immediately began to teach all of the new recruits.

"What color?" Naruto asked, seriously.

"Orange."

"That's my boy." Naruto said, smiling. "Ok, Mom's coming over from the house soon for a family picture, you could hide there."

"Thanks Dad!" Yuuku said before jumping out the window.

His intercom buzzed, "Hokage-sama, team Obito is here."

"Excellent, send them up." Naruto said into the box.

A couple of minutes later, the door to his office opened and three eighteen year olds and Obito entered. One was tall, had blue eyes, grey hair (not from old age), and whisker marks. One his left was a girl with dark brown hair, which was done up in two buns, Hyuuga eyes, and was wearing a pink Chinese shirt with a Hyuuga flame on the back. On her left was a boy with Auburn hair, onyx eyes, and the Uchiha fan on the back. In truth, his hair was a relief to Sasuke, it meant that no Uchiha man would grow up with pink hair.

"There he is, Konoha's Chunin of the year." Naruto said as he got up to hug the grey haired boy, "Iruka, my boy! How are things going for you?"

"Fine, except for that my backbone is feeling like its turning to dust." The boy said as his father squeezed him.

Naruto let him go, "So how did the mission go?" He asked the Uchiha boy.  
"Fine, although I bet my Dad's not going to be too satisfied with the job I did."

"If he isn't I'm going to give him the most boring D-ranks I can find." The boy laughed. "Alright, you're dismissed, except Iruka."

"What did I do?" The Namikaze heir asked.

"Nothing, your Mom just wants to take another family picture."

"Again?" Iruka asked exhasperated.

"Again."

"If Yuuku messes this one up I'm going to hurt him."

"Alright, but no Kyuubiken, or jutsus."

"What about-?"

"No summoning either."

"Aw."

Naruto's intercom buzzed again. "Hokage-sama, Team Itachi reporting for mission duty."

"Good, good, send them up."

A couple of minutes later, Itachi entered with his team, on the left was a girl with long dark hair, whisker marks and blue eyes like her brothers, she was sixteen and looked like she could handle herself in any situation. She took after her mom in so many ways.

One of her teammates was an Inuzuka with shaggy red hair, and a white dog companion, at his side was a flute.

The other was a blond Nara, who looked especially lazy, but the fear of his mother, Temari, made him get out of bed in the morning. Understandably so.

"Hey Uncle Naruto!" The Inuzuka said.

"Hello, Onpu (music), how's my favorite nephew?"

"Doing great!"

Iruka was staring down with his sister. "Shinkan (Silence)."

"Iruka." She said.

"You're just not going to forgive me are you?"

"Sure I will, as soon as I humiliate you to a blubbering blob of flesh."

Yes, she definitely took after her mother.

"Alright," Naruto said, "I have a C-rank for you guys."

"A C-rank?!" Onpu asked indignately. "You're giving us a C-rank?"

"Want to do a D-rank instead?"

Onpu shut up.

"Troublesome." The Nara boy said.

"I would give you something higher, but I need Shinkan around for the Family photo we're doing today."

"Sure you do." Onpu muttered.

Naruto gave them their mission and they headed off, except Shinkan, who had to stay. The Namikazes sat and waited, when suddenly the door burst open again, a little girl, ten years old, barged into the room, as excited as she could get. She had short blond hair, blue eyes, and whisker marks. "Dad, Dad, Dad!"

"What, what, what?" Naruto asked the girl.

"I did it! I did it! I did it!"

"Well, let's see it."

The girl nodded, and put her hands in the Tora seal, "Uzumaki!" She said, and her once blue eyes turned white, with a pupil that extended four arms to the edge of the iris, The Namikaze bloodline, the Uzumaki, named in memory of Naruto's mother.

"Okay, let's see what you can do." Naruto held up a piece of paper, and put his hand behind it, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three." The girl said.

"Good, and now?"

"Five."

"Excellent," Naruto said, "X-ray vision, check." He then moved behind his daughter and held his fingers right behind her head. "How many fingers now?"

"Two." She said.

"Very good, 360 degree vision." He pulled out a kunai, "Give me your hand, I promise this won't hurt."

She hesitantly gave her father one of her fingers, which he carefully, and gently cut the skin of. Immediately it began to smoke. "Healing factor, very good." Naruto said approvingly. "Congratulations, Karen (sweet). You unlocked the Uzumaki's mature form, and so young too."

Karen smiled up at her Dad.

His intercom buzzed again. "Hokage-sama, the rest of your family has arrived."

"Good, send them up."

Exactly one minute later, His office door opened, and in stepped in Kyuubi and Jasmnine, the wedded Kitsune of Konoha, Hinata, Naruto's twin boys Tobi and Tekka, his youngest, Atsui (kind), still in diapers, Yuuku, and Jiraiya and Tsunade. Naruto smiled as he remembered how these two became the latest addition to their family.

Not long after the Invasion made by the rain, Jiraiya approached Naruto apologizing. When Naruto asked him what he was apologizing for, he shifted nervously. "Well, I'm supposed to be your godfather."

Narutoforgave him, after pounding him into the street asking "Where were you the first twelve years of my life?!" and he accepted him into the family. Two years later, He and Tsunade married. Once they were wed, Naruto told her that he finally had an excuse to call her "Baa-chan"

Naruto grabbed his hat and got into the picture.

He had fulfilled his dreams, finally.

The End


End file.
